{"id":1406452,"date":"2022-03-29T07:32:20","date_gmt":"2022-03-29T11:32:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1406452"},"modified":"2022-03-29T07:32:25","modified_gmt":"2022-03-29T11:32:25","slug":"contempt-charge-against-dan-scavino-based-on-false-claims-by-january-6-committee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/contempt-charge-against-dan-scavino-based-on-false-claims-by-january-6-committee\/","title":{"rendered":"Contempt Charge Against Dan Scavino Based on False Claims by January 6 Committee"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fcontempt-charge-against-dan-scavino-based-on-false-claims-by-january-6-committee%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1406452&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><\/div>\n<p class=\"subheading\">The January 6 Committee voted to recommend Monday that former White House communications official Dan Scavino be held in criminal contempt of Congress, based on false claims by the committee that Scavino refused to comply with it.<\/p>\n<p>Correspondence reviewed by Breitbart News indicates clearly that Scavino\u2019s attorneys informed the committee that he was willing to cooperate, but was concerned about violating executive privilege, and the unclear scope of requested testimony.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"gmxrevmore\" class=\"H\"><\/figure>\n<p>These are two separate issues, neither of which the committee addressed in the \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/docs.house.gov\/meetings\/IJ\/IJ00\/20220328\/114565\/HRPT-117-NA.pdf\">contempt report<\/a>\u201d that was the basis for the vote Monday evening. Though the courts have ruled against former President Donald Trump\u2019s assertions of privilege over some documents held by the National Archives, they have not ruled on whether executive privilege would also be invalid regarding Scavino\u2019s requested testimony \u2014 for example, about verbal communications be may have had with the president.<\/p>\n<p>Moreover, as Scavino\u2019s attorneys pointed out to the committee, the scope of the committee\u2019s request for testimony was both vague and ever-expanding. The contempt report claims that it identified specific topics for Scavino to address, but as a <a href=\"https:\/\/docs.house.gov\/meetings\/IJ\/IJ00\/20220328\/114565\/HMTG-117-IJ00-20220328-SD025.pdf\">letter<\/a> from Scavino\u2019s attorneys noted Feb. 8, the committee also told Scavino\u2019s attorneys that it \u201creserves the right to question Mr. Scavino about other topics,\u201d creating the possibility that other executive privilege claims could arise during testimony.<\/p>\n<p>The contempt report does not address the question of whether there would be any limit to the inquiry. Instead, it makes unsubstantiated (and, to any Reddit user, laughable) claims that Scavino \u201cmay have had advance warning about the potential for violence on January 6th\u201d because he once followed \u201c\u2018\/r\/The_Donald,\u201d a now-defunct Reddit forum with close to a million users, a few of whom posted alarming comments on a successor site called thedonald.win months, and perhaps years, later.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B2\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<p>In a <a href=\"https:\/\/january6th.house.gov\/news\/press-releases\/thompson-cheney-opening-statements-select-committee-business-meeting-2\">statement<\/a> Monday night, committee chair Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS) claimed that Scavino \u201cstrung us along for months before making it clear that he believes he\u2019s above the law.\u201d In fact, it was the committee itself that was responsible for a delay of \u201cmonths\u201d: as the contempt report makes clear, it did not attempt to write to Scavino between December 9, 2021 \u00a0and February 4, 2022, despite receiving a response from Scavino\u2019s attorneys to to the December 9 letter on December 13.<\/p>\n<p>The contempt report also falsely claims that Scavino refused \u201cto comply with the Select Committee\u2019s subpoena in any way,\u201d though the correspondence referred to by the report itself reveals Scavino\u2019s attorneys said he would comply once he had knew the scope of the inquiry, and had clarity about the extent to which executive privilege would cover his testimony.<\/p>\n<p>The partisan committee \u2014 perhaps fearing the upcoming midterm elections \u2014 appears to have rushed to find Scavino in contempt.<\/p>\n<p>Other Trump officials who have been targeted by the committee have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/\">sued<\/a> it, alleging that it is in violation of the terms of its own enabling resolution, which calls for five Republican members (out of 13 total). Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) took the unprecedented step of rejecting House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy\u2019s recommended list of Republican participants, and appointed only two Republicans \u2014 Reps. Liz Cheney (R-WY) and Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) \u2014 alongside seven Democrats.<\/p>\n<p>Both Cheney and Kinzinger are known for their hostility toward Trump. The result is that witnesses at the closed-door depositions before the committee are not questioned by two opposing sides, but by attorneys who are all on the same side.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B3\" class=\"a8d adSo\"><\/figure>\n<p>Moreover, legal challenges claim the subpoenas issued by the committee are invalid because the enabling resolution requires they be approved in consultation with the ranking member, and there is no such ranking member.<\/p>\n<p>The committee also voted to recommend that former Trump trade official Peter Navarro be held in contempt. Already, Congress has voted to recommend former Trump adviser Steve Bannon and former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows for prosecution by the Department of Justice (DOJ). The DOJ, which has historically ignored such referrals \u2014 notably, when Republicans referred Obama-era attorney general Eric Holder and IRS official Lois Lerner for contempt \u2014 charged Bannon with contempt last year.<\/p>\n<p>Navarro has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.businessinsider.com\/peter-navarro-says-mike-pence-hung-up-on-his-election-stealing-pitch-2022-1\">said<\/a> candidly in interviews that the plan among Trump loyalists was to use a peaceful protest at the Capitol to pressure Congress and Vice President Mike Pence to reject the certification of Electoral College votes from states where the results were being contested by the Trump campaign.<\/p>\n<p>Contrary to the claims of the January 6 committee, Navarro said that the violence that erupted interfered with the plan and ensured its failure.<\/p>\n<p><em>Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of <\/em>Breitbart News Sunday<em> on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Neither-Free-nor-Fair-Presidential-ebook\/dp\/B08PNN54BB\">Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election<\/a>. His recent book, <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.centerstreet.com\/titles\/joel-b-pollak\/red-november\/9781546099840\/\">RED NOVEMBER<\/a><em>, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at <a class=\"x5l\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/joelpollak\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external\">@joelpollak<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The January 6 Committee voted to recommend Monday that former White House communications official Dan Scavino be held in criminal contempt of Congress, based on false claims by the committee<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1406452","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1406452","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1406452"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1406452\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1406452"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1406452"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1406452"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}