Trump blows deadline to hand over documents to Jan 6 committee

Meridian ID

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Once again, Donald Trump flaunts his contempt of Congress the order to hand over documents. The deadline for former president Donald Trump to produce a host of documents to the House January 6 select committee has passed without any indication that the ex-president has complied with the subpoena issued to him last month. On 22 October, select committee chair Bennie Thompson and vice-chair Liz Cheney sent Mr Trump a subpoena commanding him to provide the panel with documents and communications records pertaining to what they described as “a multi-part effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election and to obstruct the peaceful transfer of power” that had been “personally orchestrated” by the twice-impeached ex-president. Mr Trump had until 10 am on 4 November to produce the requested documents, including all “documents” or “communications” pertaining to contacts with “witnesses who appeared or who were or might be expected to appear before the select committee, including witnesses who served as White House staff during your administration, who served as staff for your 2020 campaign, and who served or currently serve in the United States Secret Service,” or lawyers for those witnesses. The panel had also sought “any communications regarding directly or indirectly paying the legal fees for any such witnesses, or finding, offering, or discussing employment for any such witnesses” as well as any communications with Tony Ornato, the US Secret Service agent turned White House deputy chief of staff who ex-White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson said told her about an altercation between Mr Trump and the head of his protective detail on the day of the riot. Neither representatives for the select committee nor Mr Trump’s attorney, David Warrington, responded to queries from The Independent regarding whether the ex-president had indeed produced any of the required documents. If Mr Trump were to fail to produce the documents without any effort to negotiate with the committee, he could face the same fate as his ex-adviser Steve Bannon, who last month was sentenced to four months in prison after a jury found him guilty of two counts of criminal contempt of Congress. An accompanying letter laid out 10 separate aspects of that effort, alleging that Mr Trump – among other things – attempted to “corrupt the Department of Justice” by “soliciting and enlisting Department officials to make false statements and aid your effort to overturn the presidential election”, “illegally pressuring state officials and legislators” to change 2020 election results, “orchestrating and overseeing” efforts to submit false electoral cerfiticates to the National Archives, and “corruptly pressuring” then vice president Mike Pence to “unilaterally refuse to count electoral votes” during the 6 January 2021 joint session of Congress. They also alleged that Mr Trump filed false information “under oath, in federal court” and summoned “tens of thousands” of his followers to Washington and “sending them to march on the Capitol” with the knowledge that many were armed.