During an appearance on MSNBC’s The Sunday Show this weekend, former acting Solicitor General Neal Katyal insisted that investigators on the House committee investigating the Capitol riot “have to call Pence and Trump” for testimony. It’s unclear as of this point when investigators might actually do such a thing, although it’s been under discussion. Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.), a member of the riot panel, recently said on CNN that committee members were “trying to be deliberate and thoughtful” regarding the prospect of seeking Pence’s testimony, adding that they’re continuing to pursue leads like information from people who worked with Pence. As for Trump, committee member Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) has previously established that the former president is “not off limits” in terms of whether his testimony will be sought.
Former Pence chief of staff Marc Short (who's met w/ the 1/6 committee too) is on Meet the Press now – says Trump had "snake oil salesmen" advising him leading up to 1/6
— Nicholas Wu (@nicholaswu12) February 6, 2022
Asked about the prospect of former Attorney General Bill Barr formally testifying to the committee, Katyal commented as follows:
‘The committee’s got to call him. And I think ultimately they have to call Pence and Trump too… But it does look like these congressional investigators have started to uncover this plot, which started just two weeks after the election with a series of memos, and then continued through December while Barr was in office, and then continued in January while you had people maneuvering, like Jeffrey Clark to be the attorney general, and, you know, seize voting machines… And the revelations this week are that Donald Trump actually tore up all of these memos, so that investigators couldn’t see all of that… [That’s] certainly illegal. The Presidential Records Act forbids that. That’s an easy crime for prosecutors to go after in Merrick Garland’s Justice Department.’
Check out Katyal’s comments below:
The Washington Post reported recently that committee investigators got items that had been ripped up and then taped back together among records from the Trump administration that were obtained from the National Archives. Officials at the Archives confirmed that records were torn apart by the ex-president, explaining that “paper records that had been torn up by former President Trump” were among what was handed over to investigators. National Archives officials added that “White House records management officials during the Trump Administration recovered and taped together some of the torn-up records. These were turned over to the National Archives at the end of the Trump Administration, along with a number of torn-up records that had not been reconstructed by the White House.” It was not immediately clear which records had been torn up, although the riot investigation committee obviously focused on items with some relation to the events of that fateful day.
This should go without saying, but the events of the past few weeks show that we really need to be saying it: if you are an elected official who’s refusing to condemn Trump or hold him accountable, you’re complicit in his coup attempt.
— Citizens for Ethics (@CREWcrew) February 6, 2022
The committee has already requested testimony from Ivanka Trump, a daughter of the ex-president who served as a presidential adviser throughout her father’s time in the White House. (Investigators didn’t subpoena her — yet.) Among other topics that investigators are hoping to discuss with Ivanka, committee chairman Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) noted in a letter to her that the committee has obtained testimony that “indicates that members of the White House staff requested your assistance on multiple occasions to intervene in an attempt to persuade President Trump to address the ongoing lawlessness and violence on Capitol Hill” as the riot unfolded.
Trump got elected in part by attacking Clinton for deleting emails that she deemed personal, then spent four years destroying official documents despite federal law. @AshleyRParker @jdawsey1 @thamburger @JaxAlemany https://t.co/bbQa9V2geU
— Peter Baker (@peterbakernyt) February 6, 2022