Facing Subpoenas, Trump Allies Try to Run Out the Clock on Democrats
The New York Times
Democrats hope a Biden Justice Department can speed up legal action, but Donald J. Trump and his allies are proving adept at using judicial delay to withhold information from Congress.
WASHINGTON — On Tuesday night, as the House prepared to hold Donald J. Trump’s former chief of staff Mark Meadows in criminal contempt of Congress, a federal judge ruled that the Treasury Department could provide the former president’s tax returns to the House Ways and Means Committee.
It was a sign of progress for Democrats, for sure, but Mr. Meadows could find comfort in the fact that the ruling took nearly two and a half years. And even then, Judge Trevor McFadden of the Federal District Court for the District of Columbia stayed his own judgment for 10 days to give the Trump camp time to file yet another appeal.
The twisting saga of that case — with dozens of motions, hearings, lawyer changes and rulings — gives an indication of how House subpoenas of Mr. Trump’s aides and allies might go as they try to run out the clock on the current Congress and hope for Republican control in 2023, when new House leaders would simply drop the inquiries. The House’s inquiry into the Jan. 6 Capitol attack, a select subcommittee on the coronavirus pandemic and the Ways and Means Committee are all counting on the courts to deliver accountability.
