[WATCH] CNN Legal Analyst: ‘Monumental’ Ruling Against Trump Over Jan 6th Documents is ‘Huge Setback’
U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan issued a 39-page ruling clearing the way for the House January 6th Select Committee to receive a treasure trove of documents from the National Archives related to the Capitol insurrection despite Donald Trump’s objections.
Judge Chutkan wrote, “Presidents are not kings, and Plaintiff is not President,” which has already become a meme on social media.
Legal experts immediately began dissecting the Judge’s ruling, indicating the trouble ahead for Trump in light of yet another legal loss.
“Presidents are not kings, and Plaintiff is not President,” Judge Tanya Chutkan wrote in her November 9 ruling properly rejecting Trump’s baseless claims of executive privilege.
— Laurence Tribe (@tribelaw) November 10, 2021
CNN’s legal analyst Elie Honig called Judge Chutkan’s ruling “a big deal” and praised the extent of the decision that may make it hard for Trump to stop the release by Friday. The former prosecutor said the decision is a “big setback” for Trump and his legal team. “This is really a big deal,” Honig began. “This is a monumental, constitutional decision and the judge gave a big win, at least for now, to the January 6th committee, a big setback to Donald Trump. The judge systematically took apart Donald Trump’s arguments. First of all: executive privilege. The judge put it very bluntly, ‘presidents are not kings, and the plaintiff is not president.'”
"Presidents are not kings, and Plaintiff is not President." pic.twitter.com/P4mastAeUD
— Brad Heath (@bradheath) November 10, 2021
“The truth hurts,” Honig continued. “It is going to be generally up to the current president, not the past president to exercise executive privilege. The judge also rejected Donald Trump’s argument that the committee has no legitimate legislative purpose. They said, they’re Congress, they told us what it is, it’s not up to you, the former president. The judge stressed the importance of the overall investigation that the committee is doing.”
This will, of course, be appealed. But this is a monumental, and almost inarguably correct, ruling that should hold up regardless of the ideological leanings of appellate judges. https://t.co/JiKNCzp4hZ
— Elie Honig (@eliehonig) November 10, 2021
Watch his analysis, below.