Trump’s legal strategy thwarted now that he’s no longer in office: report

Donald Trump's efforts to obstruct Congress from obtaining key information have been frustrated since he left office after losing the 2020 election to Joe Biden, according to a new Washington Postanalysis.

"As president, Donald Trump stymied lawmakers seeking his financial records and the testimony of a close adviser by employing a legal strategy that worked to his advantage even when he lost in court. Trump has turned to these familiar tactics now in a bid to thwart House investigators pursuingaccountability for the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, but legal observers say that in this latest test of executive power, such an approach may fail to achieve his desired outcome," The Post reported.

Former acting Solicitor General Neal Katyal explained how the dynamics have changed.

"Donald Trump just has one play in his playbook. Delay. He tries it everywhere," Katyal said. "It was easier for him when his folks controlled the Justice Department, but now that they don't, it's a much harder strategy."

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This is not a new strategy for Trump, biographer Gwenda Blair noted. She cited his $100 million countersuit against the Department of Justice in the 1970s after being accused of racial discrimination.

Blair said Trump "stalls things indefinitely" while "punching back immediately."

"This is a legal system in which being able to afford a lawyer is very often the side that prevails," Blair noted.

That strategy is also no longer working, as Trump is facing a smart legal team representing Congress.

Read the full analysis.