Jan. 6 Committee Tests Congress’s Waning Power to Command Testimony
New York | October 19, 2021
Congress’s powers to conduct investigations in the face of defiant witnesses have eroded sharply in recent years—a trend once again on display as former President Donald Trump and his associates gear up for a legal battle fighting demands from investigators probing the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. The congressional committee investigating the attack has demanded a wide array of Mr. Trump’s presidential records from the National Archives and has subpoenaed the former president’s allies and aides for documents and testimony. Mr. Trump’s lawyers have responded by making untested claims of executive privilege that would bar people outside of government from discussing their conversations with the president. One of those people, Steve Bannon, who was briefly a top White House aide to Mr. Trump but hasn’t had a government job since 2017, has said he won’t comply with the congressional subpoena, citing guidance from Mr. Trump’s lawyers…. (Excerpts from the Wall Street Journal)