The letter specifically mentions ongoing investigations by both the Senate Judiciary Committee and the House Oversight and Reform Committee. The letter was first reported by the New York Times.The Justice Department's perspective on the matter is quite different from the Trump-era DOJ. They routinely intervened for top White House and Administration officials to assert executive privilege, or other broad legal claims to stop them from testifying about conversations they had with the former president. Trump was accused of obstruction of Congress in his first impeachment proceeding. This stemmed from his refusal to honour subpoenas for documents and witness testimony.This letter authorizes potentially damaging testimony from Trump aides, who made an unprecedented effort to reverse President Joe Biden's election win in his last days of office. Those efforts culminated with a Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol by a mob made up of Trump supporters while lawmakers certified Biden's state-by-state Electoral College victories.Dick Durbin, Senate Judiciary Chairman (D-Ill.), tweeted that the Committee had been pressing DOJ for this waiver for several months. We now have the waiver, so we will interview the witnesses as soon as possible to get to the bottom this plot to recruit DOJ to Donald Trump's 2020 election efforts.Trump and his top White House aides put significant pressure on the Justice Department in January and December. They made baseless claims about election fraud and attempted to take extraordinary measures to stop Biden taking office.Ex-Justice Department officials and former White House aides with deep knowledge about the Trump-led effort could be called upon by the select committee and other congressional panels.This letter details the Justice Department's view that it must balance Congress legitimate need for information with Executive Branch confidentiality.According to the letter, DOJ concluded that congressional investigations are an extraordinary situation in which the Congress need for information outweighs Executive Branch's interest in maintaining confidentiality. The recipient is authorized to give unrestricted testimony without regard to potential privilege.Representatives from the House select committees could call in dozens of witnesses to testify as part of the investigation. The panel has stated that subpoenas will likely be issued.The position of the Biden Justice Departments would make it easier for the committee obtain this testimony. This will reduce potential concerns about long-running court battles with executive branches over privilege claims.The House continues to fight in court to enforce subpoenas for records related to Democrats oversight investigation of Trump and his Administration. This legal battle was made possible by the Trump Justice Departments attempts to protect the former president from scrutiny.Marianne LeVine contributed to the report.
