Despite the brakes and poisonings, the truth continues to emerge about the day when American democracy trembled on its foundations. The House of Representatives committee, responsible for the investigation into the assault on Capitol Hill given on January 6 by supporters of Donald Trump, launched a series of summons (subpoena) to the address of a dozen people involved in organizing the rally in front of Congress. In addition, she wished to hear the former head of the presidential administration, Mark Meadows, his deputy and specialist in social networks Dan Scavino and finally Kash Patel, senior defense official.
Although he left the White House in 2017, former strategist Steve Bannon has also been assigned. But he announced his refusal to respond favorably to the summons, as Donald Trump had recommended to his entourage. “We will not allow any witnesses to defy a legal injunction or play the clock, and we will quickly examine the possibility of criminal prosecution for obstructing the work of Congress.”, warned the elected Democrat Bennie Thompson (Mississippi) and his Republican colleague Liz Cheney (Wyoming), who are at the head of the commission, composed of seven Democrats and two Republicans.
Donald Trump has every interest in promoting paralysis of the commission, pending the mid-term elections in 2022 and a possible change of majority in the House of Representatives, in favor of the Republicans. His lawyers justify the instructions given to the former advisers by the defense of the executive privilege of the former president. This is a recognized principle, with rather vague outlines, making it possible to preserve the confidentiality of the exchanges that any Head of State has with his advisers. However, Joe Biden authorized the transmission to the commission of inquiry of a specific series of archives relating to the acts of Donald Trump on January 6. The White House intends to study requests for documents on a case-by-case basis. This caution is understandable. By weakening the scope of executive privilege, Joe Biden could one day regret it, if it were lifted at his expense.
Donald Trump’s three-phase strategy
As Democratic Senator (Illinois) Dick Durbin, chairman of the Judiciary Commission, explained on CNN, Donald Trump’s strategy after his failure at the polls must be analyzed in three phases: legal recourse, all lost; then the pressure exerted on the Department of Justice and the Attorney General in order to promote the idea, with the States, that the transmission of the results of the electoral college should be interrupted; and finally, the last step, consisting in encouraging his supporters to storm the Capitol on January 6 to physically prevent the certification, underway that day.
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