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.
Correspondence reviewed by Breitbart News indicates clearly that Scavino’s attorneys informed the committee that he was willing to cooperate, but was concerned about violating executive privilege, and the unclear scope of requested testimony.
These are two separate issues, neither of which the committee addressed in the “contempt report” that was the basis for the vote Monday evening. Though the courts have ruled against former President Donald Trump’s 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’s requested testimony — for example, about verbal communications be may have had with the president.
Moreover, as Scavino’s attorneys pointed out to the committee, the scope of the committee’s 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 letter from Scavino’s attorneys noted Feb. 8, the committee also told Scavino’s attorneys that it “reserves the right to question Mr. Scavino about other topics,” creating the possibility that other executive privilege claims could arise during testimony.
