US Capitol riot: Trump White House records wanted by House panel

A US congressional committee has demanded records related to members of former President Donald Trump’s inner circle, in an attempt to shed light on his administration’s possible role in the Jan. 6 deadly attack on the Capitol.

According to Press TV, the House of Representatives Select Committee said in a statement Wednesday it wanted archived communications from the Trump White House as well as seven other Executive Branch agencies.

The committee’s chairman, Bennie Thompson, wrote eight letters, the longest of which is addressed to the National Archives and Records Administration, which holds records from the Trump administration.

The seven other letters went to seven Executive Branch agencies, giving them two weeks to produce the materials.

Agencies that fail to meet the deadline — Sept. 9 — would likely receive subpoenas for the information.

“Our Constitution provides for a peaceful transfer of power, and this investigation seeks to evaluate threats to that process,” Thompson wrote.

He said the committee seeks to “identify lessons learned and recommend laws, policies, procedures, rules, or regulations necessary to protect our republic in the future.”

The records being sought by Thompson also related to how the events of Jan. 6 “fit in the continuum of efforts to subvert the rule of law, overturn the results of the November 3, 2020 election, or otherwise impede the peaceful transfer of power.”

Three of his letters addressed leaders of the Departments of Defense, Homeland Security, Justice and the Interior.

Four other letters are to the directors of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the National Counterterrorism Center and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

Trump was impeached for inciting his supporters to storm the Capitol building, where lawmakers were in the process of confirming Biden’s win in the 2020 presidential election.

The attack resulted in the death of at least five people, including a police officer who was guarding the Congress building.

House Democrats, who formed the committee, say Trump’s fellow Republicans are seeking to obfuscate the fact that the riot was spearheaded by the Trump supporters.