ABSTRACT
Within the domestic arena, former President Trump initiated legal action in October 2021 to prevent senior officials who served in his administration from testifying before a congressional committee investigating the January 6 Capitol riot. Trump’s lawyers argued that oral conversations and written correspondence to and from the president were protected by executive privilege, but Biden rejected that claim. When Biden assumed the presidency, he encountered more favorable than unfavorable political conditions. Biden’s style in dealing with Congress was different from his predecessors. Unlike Trump and Obama, he invited members of Congress to the White House. During his first 100 days, more than 100 members of both parties attended discussions of public policy in the White House with the president and his senior aides. The president’s strategy on the Build Back Better Act was different. After Congress returned from its Labor Day recess, Biden held few public events but participated in meetings with groups of Democratic members of Congress.
