Donald Trump fails in attempt to block investigation into US Capitol attack, 10 White House aides subpoena

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The investigation into the deadly January attack on the USCapitol could access the White House records of former president Donald Trump, a federal judge has ruled.

Key points: Judge Tanya Chutkan gave permission to be a committee to obtain White House phone records and visitor logs MrTrump’s lawyers rejected argument that such sensitive information should be kept also issued a request to 10 former White House officials, including former adviser Stephen Miller

In a clear win for congressional administrative powers, Judge Tanya Chutkan gave permission to the House of Representatives committee to obtain potentially sensitive information.

He rejected the argument of Mr Trump’s lawyers that telephone records, visitor notes and other White House documents should be kept in committee.

“Although broad, these requests, and each of the other requests made by the Committee, shall not exceed the legislative powers of the Committee,” Judge Chutkan said in his decision.

Mr Trump argued that the materials requested by the House committee were covered by a legal doctrine known as executive privilege that protects the confidentiality of certain communications with the White House.

He requested an injunction barring the National Archives thefederal agency that holds his records in the White House from complying with the committee’s requests for hundreds of pages of documents.

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows for search, up and down arrows for volume. Viewing Duration: 1 minute 24 seconds 1m 24sDonald Trump supporters strike the US Capitol on January 6.

Mr Trump quickly filed a notice in court, indicating that he would appeal the decision.

The committee said it needed the requested materials to understand the role Mr Trump may have played in inciting unrest on Jan. 6, which killed five people and saw more than 700 face criminal charges.

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“That’s a big deal,” USRepresentative Bennie Thompson, chairman of the House of Representatives select committee, told CNN after Judge Chutkan’s decision.

“I hope to get this information. I hope our investigators go through this with a fine comb to make sure our government is not armed against its citizens.”

Judge Chutkan said Mr Trump did not acknowledge “respect” for President Joe Biden’s determination that the committee access the materials.

“[Mr Trump’s]The position that he can override the express will of the executive branch appears to be based on the notion that his executive power exists indefinitely, ’” she said.

“But presidents are not kings, and the plaintiff is not a president.”

Kayleigh McEnany was the White House press secretary for the last year of the Trump presidency. (AP: Evan Vucci)

Earlier on Tuesday, Chamber investigators issued a subpoena for 10 former officials who worked for MrTrump at the end of his presidency in an effort to find out more about what he was doing and saying before the riot.

The subpoenas included requests for documents and testimony from former senior adviser Stephen Miller and former press secretary Kayleigh McEnany.

This will bring the House panel closer to Mr Trump’s inner circle.

It comes a day after the committee subpoenaed six other colleagues of the former president who spread false facts about widespread election fraud and strategized about how to thwart Mr Biden’s legitimate victory.

“The Select Committee wants to learn every detail of what happened at the White House on Jan. 6 and in recent days,” said Mississippi Representative Bennie Thompson, the Democratic chairman of the panel.

Stephen Miller served as senior policy adviser to the White House for four years. (Reuters: Jonathan Ernst)

“We need to know exactly what role the former president and his aides played in trying to stop the counting of electoral votes and whether they were contacting anyone outside the White House trying to reverse the result. of the election. “

Mr Trump gave an incendiary speech before the attack on the Capitol, reiterating his false claim that the November 2020 election was stolen through widespread voting fraud.

He urged his supporters to go to the Capitol and “fight like hell” to “stop the theft”.

His supporters stormed the Capitol in a failed bid to prevent Congress from formally confirming Mr Biden’s election victory.

Mr Biden, a Democrat and former vice-president under Barack Obama, took office on January 20.

Wires/ABC

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