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WASHINGTON The Biden administration will have a big say in whether the government releases information to Congress on the actions of former President Donald Trump and his aides on Jan. 6. But there could be a lengthy court battle before any details come out.

The House committee investigating the January insurrection at the U.S. Capitol asked last month for a trove of records, including communication within the White House under Trump and information about planning and funding for rallies held in Washington. Among those events was a rally near the White House featuring remarks by Trump, who egged on a crowd of thousands before loyalists stormed the Capitol.

A person familiar with the matter confirmed that the first tranche of documents from the Trump White House was turned over by the National Archives at the end of last month to the White House and Trump. Either party can object to the release of specific items. And Bidens White House has the right to overrule a Trump effort to block the release of information.

Beyond that, the former president may sue to block it all. Or Congress could choose to sue if legislators felt the Biden White House wanted to hold back too much. The person was not authorized to speak publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

Trump has said he would cite executive privilege and refuse to hand over any details. The legal maneuver has been used for decades by presidents and staff including Trump himself to avoid scrutiny by Congress.

But Trump doesnt necessarily have the final word now that hes out of office. According to a executive order on presidential records, the archivist who is in possession of the records shall abide by any instructions given him by the incumbent President or his designee unless otherwise directed by a final court order.

The White House has indicated it is inclined to release as many of the documents as possible; but officials arent ruling out that there could be individual records Biden may deem privileged.

Presidents tend to be protective of their executive privilege to keep White House documents private, both for themselves and their predecessors. But any White House move to deny the congressional request for records on Trumps activities could inflame Democratic legislators just when Biden needs their support to advance his agenda.

The requested documents are part of a lengthy, partisan and rancorous investigation into how a mob was able to infiltrate the Capitol and disrupt the certification of Bidens presidential victory, inflicting the most serious assault on Congress in two centuries. More than 650 people have been charged criminally in the attack, the largest prosecution in U.S. history.

In addition to White House records from the archives, demands are being made for material from the departments of Defense, Justice, Homeland Security and Interior, as well as the FBI and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

The request for the National Archives and Records Administration is 10 pages long. The committee is seeking All documents and communications within the White House on January 6, 2021, related to Trumps close advisers and family members, the rally at the nearby Ellipse and Trumps Twitter feed. It asks for his specific movements on that day and communications, if any, from the White House Situation Room. Also sought are all documents related to claims of election fraud, as well as Supreme Court decisions on the topic.

The archives release of the first tranche of documents to the White House and Trump was first reported by The Washington Post.

White House spokesman Michael Gwin said Biden has been engaging with Congress on Jan. 6 issues for several months, and will continue to do so.

As President Biden has said, the events of January 6th were a dark stain on our countrys history, and they represented an attack on the foundations of our constitution and democracy in a way that few other events have, Gwin said. The president is deeply committed to ensuring that something like that can never happen again and he supports a thorough investigation into what occurred.

The committee is also seeking information about efforts within the Trump administration to push the presidents baseless claims of election fraud and any efforts to try to overturn the results of Novembers election or to impede the peaceful transfer of power.

Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., is heading the committee, appointed by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi after all but two Republicans opposed creating the 13-person panel.

It has also requested that telecommunications and social media companies preserve the personal communications of hundreds of people who may have somehow been connected to the attack.

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President Biden has say in whether Donald Trump's Jan. 6 records go to Congress - The Spokesman-Review

Hows this for a paradox? Donald Trump is predicting America will end in three years and is also hinting that he may run for office in 2024 three years from now.

The former president made the contradictory claims during a Newsmax interview on Tuesday with his former White House press secretary Sean Spicer. True to form, he also falsely claimed the 2020 presidential election was rigged.

After Trump said our country has gone really downhill in the last eight months like nobodys ever seen before, he suggested, without offering any proof, that the country will end.

And you go to these elections coming up in 22 and 24 were not going to have a country left, Trump said. The election was rigged, and were not going to have a country left in three years, Ill tell you that.

Spicer then tried to end the interview, possibly because Newsmax is facing a $1.6 billion lawsuit fromDominion Voting Systemsfor deliberately lying about widespread fraud in the 2020 presidential election and defaming the voting machine company.

However, Spicer did have one last question. After noting that Trump has said he has made a decision about a 2024 run and that his followers would be happy, Spicer asked the former president when he might announce his plans.

Trump avoided a direct answer but promised Spicer he would be happy with the decision and also claimed America is now a laughingstock.

Some Twitter users couldnt help but think Trump did a self-own.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.

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Donald Trump Predicts America Will End Within 3 Years - Yahoo News

In the days following the January 6 attack on the Capitol, a narrative emerged in which Donald Trumps longtime footstool, Mike Pence, was hailed as something of a hero for refusing to overturn the results of the 2020 election. Despite relentless pressure from the then president to block Joe Bidens electoral win, which entailed alternately cajoling and browbeating the V.P. and telling him, You can either go down in history as a patriot, or you can go down in history as a pussy, Pence officially certified the results following a short interlude in which Trumps supporters threatened to kill him.

But as it turns out, Pence came much closer to overthrowing democracy on his bosss behalf. According to Peril, a new book out next week by veteran reporters Bob Woodward and Robert Costa, Pence, in his own telling, did everything he could to try and stop the certification of a free and fair election. Per CNN:

Even though Pencestood up to Trump in the end, Peril reveals that after four years of abject loyalty, he struggled with the decision. Woodward and Costa write that Pence reached out to Dan Quayle, who had been the vice president to George H.W. Bush, seeking his advice.

Over and over, Pence asked if there was anything he could do. Mike, you have no flexibility on this. None. Zero. Forget it. Put it away, Quayle told him. Pence pressed again. You dont know the position Im in, he said, according to the authors. I do know the position youre in, Quayle responded. I also know what the law is. You listen to the parliamentarian. Thats all you do. You have no power.

When it apparently became clear to Pence that he couldnt, in fact, overturn the election results, he still reportedly went to great lengths to explain to Trump that he very much wanted to be a good little solider, saying, Ive done everything I could and then some to find a way around this. That obsequiousness, sans action, was obviously not good enough for Trump, who had also tried to convince Pence by appealing to what he believed was everyones secret desire to be an authoritarian dictator. If these people say you had the power, wouldnt you want to? Trump asked, apparently referring to the MAGA crowd assembled on Pennsylvania Avenue. I wouldnt want any one person to have that authority, Pence responded. But wouldnt it be almost cool to have that power? Trump asked, again betraying his admiration for autocrats.

It was after Pence remained firm, according to Woodward and Costa, that Trump resorted to schoolyard threats. You dont understand, Mike, Trump said. You can do this. I dont want to be your friend anymore if you dont do this. The following day, on the morning of January 6, he reportedly called Pence and taunted, If you dont do it, I picked the wrong man four years ago, adding, Youre going to wimp out. It was apparently some time after that that Trump tried the pussy line on Pence, which obviously didnt have the effect hed hoped.

The Washington Post reports that Peril also contains the news that General Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was legitimately terrified that the president was crazy enough to start a war with China just for shits.

In a pair of secret phone calls, Gen. Mark A. Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, assured his Chinese counterpart, Gen. Li Zuocheng of the Peoples Liberation Army, that the United States would not strikeThe first call was prompted by Milleys review of intelligence suggesting the Chinese believed the United States was preparing to attack. That belief, the authors write, was based on tensions overmilitary exercises in the South China Sea, and deepened by Trumpsbelligerent rhetorictoward China.

General Li, I want to assure you that the American government is stable and everything is going to be okay, Milley told him. We are not going to attack or conduct any kinetic operations against you. In the books account, Milley went so far as to pledge he would alert his counterpart in the event of a U.S. attack, stressing the rapport theyd established through a backchannel. General Li, you and I have known each other for now five years. If were going to attack, Im going to call you ahead of time. Its not going to be a surprise.

In the second call, placed to address Chinese fears about the events of Jan. 6, Li wasnt as easily assuaged, even after Milley promised him, We are 100 percent steady. Everythings fine. But democracy can be sloppy sometimes. Li remained rattled, and Milley, who did not relay the conversation to Trump, according to the book, understood why. The chairman, 62 at the time and chosen by Trump in 2018, believed the president had suffered a mental decline after the election, the authors write, a view he communicated to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) in aphone callon Jan. 8. He agreed with her evaluation that Trump was unstable, according to a call transcript obtained by the authors.

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Trump Told Pence They Wouldnt Be Friends Anymore If the V.P. Didnt Overturn the Election, Because Hes a 5-Year-Old - Vanity Fair

What was the weirdest thing that Donald Trump did on Saturday, the twentieth anniversary of 9/11? It is not immediately obvious. While the four other men who served as president during the twenty-first century attended ceremonies honoring the dead, Trump spent the day as only he could, which is to say he dawdled through the day in the crassest manner imaginable.

He recorded a video message for the Korean Unification Churchthe religious cult better known as the Moonies and best known for its mass arranged marriages and strict regulation of its members sexual and private livesin which he lavished praise on the organization, referring to it as an inspiration. He also bizarrely claimed that his election had magically brought peace to the otherwise volatile Korean peninsula. Looking back today, its easy to forget how dangerous the situation was when I was elected, Trump said. Missiles were flying, nuclear weapons were being tested, and powerful threats were being issued every single day. Under my leadership, the United States adopted a policy of unprecedented strength doing more than any prior administration.

Then, not to be outdone, he provided pay-per-view color commentaryon a TikTok competitor for a fightif you can even call it thatbetween a nearly 60-year-old Evander Holyfield and 44-year-old MMA fighter Vitor Belfort. Trump mostly talked with his co-commentator, excitable lackwit son Donald Jr., about the good old days, Holyfields once shockingly speedy punches, and Larry Holmess immaculate left jab. On Saturday, the 58-year-old Holyfield could barely punch and was roundly pummeled by his comparatively sprier opponent, in a match that should have been disallowed via the Geneva Convention.

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Donald Trump Is Running for President, and It Will Be Just as Bizarre as Last Time - The New Republic

Vogue editor Anna Wintour, who has hosted the Met Gala since 1999, is very particular about her guest list. In October of 2017, just 10 months after Donald Trump was inaugurated as president, Wintour appeared on "The Late Show With James Corden" and was presented with a very important question.

"Everyone from Beyonc to George Clooney attends, so my question is who would you never invite back to the Met Gala?" Cordon asked. Wintour paused for just a brief few seconds, but finally gave her answer. "Donald Trump" she said, to which she received both cheers and applause (via Newsweek).

While Wintour did not give a specific reason for not inviting Trump to the gala ever again, she does have final say, and if she says he is banned, then he is banned. The timing of her decision may have something to do with how New Yorkers felt about the new president after he moved to The White House, but Wintour has never been specific.

However, Trump is in good company on the ban list, as Rachel Zoe, Tim GUnn, and actor Josh Hartnett are also banned from the event, according to The Sun.

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Why Donald Trump Is Forever Banned From The Met Gala - The List