On Wednesday, the House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurgency made a series of announcements that showed it was not just still alive, but kicking things into a new gear. These included a series of sweeping demands for records related to the Trump White House. The committee wants to know what conversations were being held at the Department of Defense, where Michael Flynn’s brother seemed to be an obstacle to timely deployment of the National Guard. And at the Department of Justice, where Trump was engaged in a scheme to replace the attorney general with someone who would be more coup-friendly. And at a series of intelligence agencies that seemed to have developed a bad case of looking the other way when it came to the white supremacist militias tied to Trump’s efforts to overturn the election.
But the requests didn’t stop there. It’s in a letter to the National Archives that the range of the committee’s document-gathering really shines. The committee demands that the archives turn over “All documents and communications,” including all photographs and recordings, of remarks by Trump related to Jan. 6. They also want everything the archives have when it comes to video, photos, and documents related to the events of Jan. 6 itself, including the rally held that morning and the one held the night before. Then it goes to a long—make that “loooong”—list of others whose comments and actions around that date are also being requested.
After that, the committee goes for “All documents and communications within the White House on January 6, 2021” relating to the rally, the march to the Capitol, the assault on the Capitol, the counting of the Electoral College votes, and … everything. Tweets. Speeches. Emails.
And the list of people whose communication the committee wants to see is even longer than the list of items they include. On that list: every single adult member of Trump’s family not named “Tiffany.”
Who is on the list? The usual suspects around the White House are naturally there. That includes familiar names like Hope Hicks, Dan Scavino, Pat Cipollone, Stephen Miller, and Kayleigh McEnany, along with a number who don’t have a big public profile. It also includes Ivanka Trump, Eric Trump, Lara Trump, Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner, Melania Trump, and token Trump family member Kimberly Guilfoyle. Then there are the Trump advisers, some of them more official than others, including Steve Bannon, Michael Flynn, Rudy Giuliani, Roger Stone, and—this is particularly good—“any Member of Congress or congressional staff” who traded notes with the White House about these events. That includes hunting down text messages that might have come from inside the Capitol or any information about tours conducted to ease the way for the entry of insurgents.
After watching Republicans close down the possibility of a nonpartisan commission to examine the events surrounding the Jan. 6 insurgency—for the simple reason that Republicans don’t want anyone looking at events around the Jan. 6 insurgency—the House went on to create its own select committee. That was good for a few moments of drama back in June when Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi turned down the Republicans’ generous offer to derail the process by adding a list of the most vocal supporters of the insurgency to the ranks. But since then, it’s sometimes been easy to forget that the select committee exists.
In July, the select committee heard its first day of testimony, with Capitol Police officers speaking about the assault and abuse they experienced on that day. Naturally, Republicans responded by throwing out a fresh batch of nonsequiturs and playing into conspiracy theories. Their response on that day was just another signal that in the months since Jan. 6, Republicans have moved from being embarrassed about that little old effort to overthrow democracy by force, and come to embrace that event as the new definition of “patriotism.”
The new requests show that this is not going to be over quickly, because the volume of information to be considered is just too great. Republicans who feared that the investigation was going to still be going on when the 2022 elections rolled around are very, very likely to see those fears confirmed.
Those whose names appear on the list for documents are likely to be a good match for people who the committee asks to appear and give testimony. Both these requests and those summons are likely to generate a metric ton of “executive privilege” and “confidential communications” claims. How the committee deals with those obstacles may be the next big event on the agenda.
But the requests didn’t stop there. It’s in a letter to the National Archives that the range of the committee’s document-gathering really shines. The committee demands that the archives turn over “All documents and communications,” including all photographs and recordings, of remarks by Trump related to Jan. 6. They also want everything the archives have when it comes to video, photos, and documents related to the events of Jan. 6 itself, including the rally held that morning and the one held the night before. Then it goes to a long—make that “loooong”—list of others whose comments and actions around that date are also being requested.
After that, the committee goes for “All documents and communications within the White House on January 6, 2021” relating to the rally, the march to the Capitol, the assault on the Capitol, the counting of the Electoral College votes, and … everything. Tweets. Speeches. Emails.
And the list of people whose communication the committee wants to see is even longer than the list of items they include. On that list: every single adult member of Trump’s family not named “Tiffany.”
Who is on the list? The usual suspects around the White House are naturally there. That includes familiar names like Hope Hicks, Dan Scavino, Pat Cipollone, Stephen Miller, and Kayleigh McEnany, along with a number who don’t have a big public profile. It also includes Ivanka Trump, Eric Trump, Lara Trump, Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner, Melania Trump, and token Trump family member Kimberly Guilfoyle. Then there are the Trump advisers, some of them more official than others, including Steve Bannon, Michael Flynn, Rudy Giuliani, Roger Stone, and—this is particularly good—“any Member of Congress or congressional staff” who traded notes with the White House about these events. That includes hunting down text messages that might have come from inside the Capitol or any information about tours conducted to ease the way for the entry of insurgents.
After watching Republicans close down the possibility of a nonpartisan commission to examine the events surrounding the Jan. 6 insurgency—for the simple reason that Republicans don’t want anyone looking at events around the Jan. 6 insurgency—the House went on to create its own select committee. That was good for a few moments of drama back in June when Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi turned down the Republicans’ generous offer to derail the process by adding a list of the most vocal supporters of the insurgency to the ranks. But since then, it’s sometimes been easy to forget that the select committee exists.
In July, the select committee heard its first day of testimony, with Capitol Police officers speaking about the assault and abuse they experienced on that day. Naturally, Republicans responded by throwing out a fresh batch of nonsequiturs and playing into conspiracy theories. Their response on that day was just another signal that in the months since Jan. 6, Republicans have moved from being embarrassed about that little old effort to overthrow democracy by force, and come to embrace that event as the new definition of “patriotism.”
The new requests show that this is not going to be over quickly, because the volume of information to be considered is just too great. Republicans who feared that the investigation was going to still be going on when the 2022 elections rolled around are very, very likely to see those fears confirmed.
Those whose names appear on the list for documents are likely to be a good match for people who the committee asks to appear and give testimony. Both these requests and those summons are likely to generate a metric ton of “executive privilege” and “confidential communications” claims. How the committee deals with those obstacles may be the next big event on the agenda.