Former NYPD Commissioner Bernard Kerik turned over a slew of documents to the House of Representatives’ Jan. 6 Select Committee on Friday.
Kerik was slapped with a subpoena in November related to his work with former President Donald Trump’s legal team attempting to find fraud in the 2020 presidential election.
However, an attorney for the former NYPD leader said he was withholding some documents under Trump’s executive privilege.
Attorney Timothy Parlatore said he was working to get a waiver from Trump so those records could be released as well.
Parlatore sent a seven-page letter to committee members that said Kerik never determined conclusively there was widespread voter fraud, or that widespread fraud would have altered Joe Biden’s victory over Trump.
But Parlatore said there should have been further investigations, and he took issue with previous comments that his client had taken part in spreading misinformation about the election.
“Whether you like it or not, a large segment of the population believes there was fraud in the 2020 election,” Parlatore wrote in the letter, shared on Twitter by Kerik.
“Some recent polls show that public distrust in the integrity of our elections is increasing. Lecturing them, dismissing them, or simply repeating this is the ‘Big Lie’ without conducting an actual investigation will only continue to fuel this distrust and will likely have consequences in 2024 and beyond.”
Kerik provided a “privilege log” which listed the documents that were withheld from the committee due to Trump’s asserted privilege, including one record titled “DRAFT LETTER FROM POTUS TO SEIZE EVIDENCE IN THE INTEREST OF NATIONAL SECURITY FOR THE 2020 ELECTIONS,” Politico reported.
The file was created Dec. 17 ahead of an Oval Office meeting where advisers discussed seizing election equipment where Trump’s team was fighting the result – though it’s not clear that letter is related to the plan, Politico said.
Parlatore said Kerik would agree to a voluntary interview rather than a formal deposition. The attorney said Kerik’s team should be allowed to record or transcribe the interview, which would be prohibited, or the committee should agree to release the recording or transcription of the interview immediately.
Kerik, who was commissioner during the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, pleaded guilty in 2009 to charges including tax evasion and making false statements to the White House. He was pardoned by Trump on Feb. 18, 2020 after serving three of four years of his prison sentence.