Capitol insurrection: House committee makes request for information from Trump administration officials, FBI

The House Select Committee tasked with investigating the Capitol insurrection last January 6 is recently revealed the next steps in their probe. The panel has now requested records from the Trump administration, including the FBI, in their investigation.

The panel made the request Wednesday for a trove of records from federal intelligence and law enforcement agencies, a sign of the extent of their probe following the insurrection by supporters of disgraced former President Donald Trump. The committee will look for information about the events that led to January 6. This also includes communications within the White House and other related agencies under Trump’s final weeks of the presidency.

Information about the planning and funding of the rally in Washington that took place hours before the siege that resulted in five people killed and dozens of law enforcement that defended the Capitol wounded. Since the insurrection, hundreds of the rioters were arrested, and four police officers committed suicide due to the events.

The panel is also looking to request telecommunications companies to preserve the phone and text message records of several individuals, including members of Congress that are suspected to be involved. The demands of Trump White House records from the National Archives as well as material from the Pentagon, DOJ, DHS, Interior, as well as the FBI and the ODNI. The panel is also looking for information on the Trump administration officials’ efforts to push the twice-impeached former president’s baseless claims of fraud to overturn the results of the 2020 elections or undermine the transition of power following Trump’s loss to Democrat Joe Biden.

In response to the demands by the panel, Trump released a statement threatening to invoke executive privilege even as he is no longer the president or in office anymore. It should be noted that while Trump can still invoke executive privilege in the courts against the committee, but it would likely be an uphill battle for the twice-impeached former president.

Speaking on CNN, former FBI deputy director Andy McCabe said that the other government agencies the panel is seeking to obtain records from, such as the DHS, DOJ, and FBI, will be able to give more information regardless of the former president’s threat.

“Every agency, every entity, the National Archives are not going to be able to wholesale deny the request simply because the president may be mounting some sort of legal challenge. You know, the National Archives -- we have laws and regulations in this country that require the National Archives to preserve these sorts of records for exactly this purpose. So we may end up litigating around the edges, particularly around some of the specific White House information, but there’s a lot of that the other agencies have to offer here,” said McCabe.