In the 26-page complaint, Trump’s lawyer argues that the files sought by Congress are protected by executive privilege under the Constitution even though Trump no longer holds office and President Biden has declined to protect them himself.

  At the heart of the dispute is whether a former or current president can use executive privilege to hide criminal behavior and possibly even sedition, an attempt to overthrow the government.  The lawsuit has the potential to become a constitutional legal battle between Trump and the House committee investigating the insurrection in which a mob of Trumpies stormed the Capitol attempting to stop Congress from formalizing the election of Joe Biden.  The fight could set new precedents about presidential prerogatives and the separation of powers.

  Today, the House committee investigating the insurrection might consider contempt proceedings against Trump’s ally Steve Bannon, who has refused to comply with a subpoena. 

Covid Nation: Washington State University fired its football coach and four of his assistants for failing to comply with the state’s Covid-19 vaccination mandate. Coach Nick Rolovich, the state’s highest-paid employee, had applied for a religious exemption from the mandate, one of the strictest in the country. 

  “This is a disheartening day for our football program,” the university’s athletic director, Pat Chun, said in a statement. “Our priority has been and will continue to be the health and well-being of the young men on our team.”

  Yesterday was the deadline set by Gov. Jay Inslee set for state employees to be fully vaccinated or receive a religious or medical exemption.

  Rolovich was in the second year of a five-year, $15.6 million contract and had the team on a three-game winning streak.

  In the continuing fight over required vaccination, More than a third of Chicago police officers have defied a deadline to report their vaccination status. That means about 4,500 officers have put themselves at risk of losing their paychecks. 

The Sports Page: The Boston Red Sox are blasting the ball over the fence. In the last two games of the American League championships, in a span of just 11 innings, the Sox hit three grand slams to establish a record for most bases-loaded homers in a postseason series. Boston beat the Houston Astros 12-3 last night in Game 3 of the series.

The Spin Rack: New York’s city council has voted to remove a statue of Thomas Jefferson, one of the founding fathers, from its chambers. Jefferson owned more than 600 slaves and had six children with one of them, Sally Hemmings. At long last the reckoning has come for his reputation. — A federal judge has ruled that The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill  may continue using race as a factor in admissions saying “race is not a defining feature.” The university had been sued by a conservative group claiming UNC’s policies discriminated against White and Asian American students. — The Haitian criminal gang that abducted  17 people from an American missionary group, including three children, is demanding $17 million in ransom. — Myanmar’s junta announced it will release about 5,600 political prisoners  held for protesting against military rule since a coup overthrew the country’s government in February. 

The Obit Page: Former secretary of state and general Colin Powell died of the effects of Covid-19 at age 84. Although he had been fully vaccinated against Covid, he had multiple myeloma, a cancerous condition that compromises the immune system, as well as Parkinson’s  disease. 

  Powell had been Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, National Security Adviser, and Secretary of State, the first black man to serve in all three positions.

  He was the architect the 1991 Gulf War that drove Iraq’s Saddam Hussein’s army out of oil rich Kuwait. He famously promised reporters at a Pentagon briefing, “Our strategy in going after this army is very simple. First, we’re going to cut it off, and then we’re going to kill it.” He did exactly that.

  Powell’s big career error was championing the second Iraq war on the faulty premise that Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. Powell regretted the invasion for the rest of his life. 

  Powell graduated from City College of New York and joined the Army through ROTC, becoming a second lieutenant in the newly desegregated Army. He served two combat tours in Vietnam and rose from there. 

  For a time, Powell was one of the most popular people in American public life, at one time courted by both the Democratic and Republican parties to run for president, but he never did.

Snakemare: A homeowner called authorities in Sonoma County, California, reporting snakes living under her home. Sonoma County Reptile Rescue responded and found 59 baby and 22 adult rattlesnakes.

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