Trump Matter-of-Factly Tells His Lackeys to Obstruct Justice

As Donald Trump has made abundantly clear, he very much does not want anyone to find out what he was doing on January 6, 2021, presumably because it would make him look worse than he already does. We know this for a few reasons, one of them being because of his hysterical response to the news that the White House is leaning toward releasing information to Congress re: what he and his aides were up to the day the Capitol was under attack, and the other being because he reportedly just very straightforwardly told several former advisers to obstruct justice and ignore subpoenas from the House committee investigating the attack and the events surrounding it. Which is a pretty good indication of where his head’s at!

Per Politico:

The committee has subpoenaed documents and testimony from four Trump administration alumni: former social media czar Dan Scavino, former Defense Department official Kash Patel, former chief of staff Mark Meadows, and former White House adviser Steve Bannon. The four men were ordered to turn over documents related to Jan. 6 by Thursday and to sit for interviews with investigators next week.

But Trump is saying otherwise. In a letter that Politico viewed, a Trump lawyer tells them not to cooperate with the probe. The letter stated the committee is seeking materials that are covered by executive privilege, as well as other privileges. “President Trump is prepared to defend these fundamental privileges in court,” the letter said.

Then the letter directed its recipient to hold back any documents about his White House work and to refuse to testify about his official duties. The letter kicks off the first major political and legal test for the select committee, which is probing Trump supporters’ violent attack on the Capitol. It’s unclear how the committee will try to enforce the subpoenas of the Trump-allied foursome, but members of the panel—which includes seven Democrats and two anti-Trump Republicans—have said they may ask the Justice Department to prosecute witnesses who refuse to comply. It also remains to be seen if the former Trump officials will follow Trump’s directions. If they are convicted of criminal contempt of Congress, they could face a year in prison and a fine of up to $100,000.

While Trump and his attorneys clearly think “executive privilege” is his get-out-of-jail-free card, others are not so sure. Last month, Rep. Jamie B. Raskin, a committee member who teaches constitutional law, told The Washington Post: “It’s not really relevant because there’s no president involved—there’s no such thing as a former president’s executive privilege.” (Saikrishna Prakash, a professor at the University of Virginia School of Law, told Politico the situation is not entirely clear. “Imagine you’re having a conversation with President Biden in the last two months of his presidency,” Prakash said. “Are you going to give him candid advice if you know it’s going to come out in two months, that the privilege is over in two months? No, you might not.”)

As for the legality of instructing the four men to ignore congressional subpoenas, numerous legal experts have suggested it is very obviously a crime. “This sounds a lot like obstruction of justice,” University of Alabama School of Law professor Joyce Alene wrote on Twitter. “Obstruction of justice, in plain sight, again,” offered attorney and California representative Eric Swalwell. “Explain why this isn’t criminal obstruction of justice and of Congress,” said famed constitutional law scholar Laurence Tribe.

Anyway, we’re sure Trump is going to great lengths to keep all of this in secret for totally innocent reasons. That’s usually why people cover things up, right?

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