In an unsurprising move after losing several decisions in a federal appeals court, Donald Trump is now taking his case all the way to the Supreme Court.
The January 6th House Select Committee had requested information from the National Archives regarding the events that led up to the riot at the Capitol; Trump is seeking to block the panel from obtaining those and other White House documents.
WASHINGTON D.C., USA – JANUARY 6: US President Donald Trump speaks at “Save America March” rally in Washington D.C., United States on January 06, 2021. (Photo by Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
President Joe Biden has declined to assert executive privilege over the documents, but that hasn’t stopped Trump or the members of his inner circle from invoking it as they continue to push legal boundaries with their refusals to cooperate with the Congressional committee. According to a new report from The Washington Post, Trump’s lawyers have reportedly asked the high court to reverse the unanimous U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruling which rejected his assertion of executive privilege in the case.
A good way for SCOTUS to reassure the public if it’s independence & integrity would be to promptly deny Trump’s request to prevent release of his records to the 1.6 Comm, because it’s plainly without merit. https://t.co/lukyxCi9f2
In filings submitted to the Supreme Court on Thursday, Trump asked the justices to take up a full review of the case and he requested that while they consider his position, they put a hold on the lower court decision permitting the disclosure of his records while they consider taking up the case. At issue are hundreds of documents including activity logs, schedules, speech notes, and three pages of handwritten notes from then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows — paperwork that could reveal goings-on inside the West Wing as Trump supporters gathered in Washington and then overran the US Capitol, disrupting the certification of the 2020 vote. The records could answer some of the most closely guarded facts of what happened between Trump and other high-level officials, including those under siege on Capitol Hill on January 6th.
“Absent judicial intervention, President Trump will suffer irreparable harm through the effective denial of a constitutional and statutory right to be fully heard on a serious disagreement between the former and incumbent President,” Trump attorney Jesse R. Binnall wrote in a court filing.
Trump is also seeking to keep secret a draft proclamation honoring two police officers who died in the siege and memos and other documents about supposed election fraud and efforts to overturn Trump’s loss of the presidency, the National Archives has said in court documents.
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