“The highly partisan, Communist-style ‘select committee’ has put forth an outrageously broad records request that lacks both legal precedent and legislative merit,” Trump spokesman Taylor Budowich said in a statement. “Executive privilege will be defended, not just on behalf of President Trump and his administration, but also on behalf of the Office of the President of the United States and the future of our nation.”

Donald Trump, 9-23-21

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Joe Biden’s White House is almost certainly about to release executive records concerning the events of January 6th. To say that Donald Trump opposes release on “principle” is likely as close to comedy as one can get while discussing Trump.

Trump intends to assert “executive privilege” to protect his own continued freedom and  – of course – the selfless Trump is interested in protecting all presidents to come, or so he says. The Washington Post says that his assertion is highly likely to fail:

Trump has said he will cite “executive privilege” to block information requests from the House select committee investigating the events of that day, banking on a legal theory that has successfully allowed presidents and their aides to avoid or delay congressional scrutiny for decades, including during the Trump administration.

But President Biden’s White House plans to err on the side of disclosure given the gravity of the events of Jan. 6, according to two people familiar with discussions who, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the private discussions.

Given the fact that Trump’s plan – and it was a plan, from all we’ve read in “I Alone Can Fix It” – to overthrow the proper installation of a democratically elected president, centered around January 6th, it would be the height of irresponsibility for Biden to consider honoring some sort of retroactive executive privilege.

What Trump was doing while the attack was occurring and who he was speaking with are among the big, unanswered questions concerning the assault on the Capitol.

The debate over the veracity of his executive privilege claims comes as the committee is moving into a new, more aggressive phase of its investigation. Having requested material from telecom, social media companies and the White House — and receiving some response — it is now looking at how best to compel testimony and documents from those reluctant to participate.

With all due respect, many of us are far more interested in what Trump was doing and who he was speaking with during the ten-day period before the attack rather than during the attack. Everything seems a little bit too coordinated and we wouldn’t be shocked if Trump barely spoke at all during the attack.

But we are heartened to hear that the effort is about to be made.

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