Donald Trump's legal team signaled Monday that it will not immediately try to block testimony from former Justice Department officials who have been called before Congress, potentially clearing a roadblock from multiple investigations touching on the former president’s tenure.
In a letter to one of six Trump-era DOJ officials whose cooperation is being sought in congressional oversight efforts, former Rep. Doug Collins (R-Ga.), a member of Trump’s legal team, suggested that it would not try to block testimony by those six. The letter's unusual verbiage makes Trump's position slightly opaque, but Collins also indicated that the former president’s team would try to contest all attempts to secure testimony from ex-DOJ officials if Congress sought cooperation from more than those six.
“[W]ithout in any way otherwise waiving the executive privilege associated with the matters the committees are purporting to investigate, President Trump will agree not to seek judicial intervention to prevent your testimony or the testimony of the five other former Department officials … who have already received letters from the Department ... so long as the committees do not seek privileged information from any other Trump administration officials or advisors,” Collins wrote. “If the committees do seek such information, however, we will take all necessary and appropriate steps on President Trump’s behalf to defend the office of the presidency.”
House Oversight Committee Chair Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) is seeking testimony from several former Trump officials in connection with Trump’s attempts to pressure the Justice Department to overturn the 2020 election. Maloney asked for interviews with, among other officials, former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, former acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen, former acting Deputy Attorney General Richard Donoghue, and former Associate Deputy Attorney General Patrick Hovakimian.
Three other Trump-era DOJ officials have received requests for interviews from Maloney’s committee: former Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey Clark, former U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia Byung Jin Pak and former acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia Bobby Christine.
Democratic lawmakers have expressed confidence that the ex-DOJ officials’ testimony could be expedited by a recent memo from the Biden Justice Department that made clear it would not stand in the way of Congress seeking testimony from its predecessor’s DOJ. Beyond Maloney’s committee, the select panel on the Jan. 6 Capitol attack and the Senate Judiciary Committee are also poised to ramp up their investigations into the Trump administration in the coming weeks.
During his presidency, the Trump administration broadly asserted executive privilege and fought Democrats’ subpoenas, stymying Democrats’ attempts to investigate the administration.
But Democrats shouldn’t view testimony from ex-Trump DOJ officials as a done deal. The phrasing of the Collins-signed letter leaves open the possibility that the former president’s lawyers could later put up major legal fights if they conclude congressional Democrats have overstepped.
Collins did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Andrew Desiderio contributed to this report.
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