Trump can’t block congressional investigation into US Capitol attack, judge rules

[ad_1]

WASHINGTON, Nov. 9 (Reuters)-A U.S. House of Representatives committee investigating the deadly attack on the U.S. Capitol can access White House records of former President Donald Trump, a a federal judge ruled Tuesday in a clear win for congressional administrative powers.

U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan in the District of Columbia rejected Trump lawyers’ argument that phone 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 Committees,” Chutkan said in his decision.

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, a federal agency that holds his records in the White House, from complying with the committee’s requests for hundreds of pages of documents.

Jesse Binnall, an attorney for Trump, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Trump quickly filed a notice in court stating he would appeal the decision.

Tear gas was released at a crowd of protesters, with one holding a Confederate battle flag with the words “Come and Take It,” as they clashed with Capitol police at a rally to fight for 2020 U.S. presidential certification. elections of the U.S. Congress, at the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, U.S., Jan. 6, 2021. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton

Read more

The committee said it needed the requested materials to understand the role Trump could have played in inciting unrest.

“That’s a big thing,” U.S. Representative Bennie Thompson, chairman of the House of Representatives select committee, said in an interview with CNN. “I look forward to getting this information. I hope our investigators go through this with a fine comb to make sure our government is not made a weapon against its citizens.”

Chutkan said Trump did not acknowledge President Joe Biden’s “respect” determination to have the committee access the materials.

“His (Trump’s) 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,” Chutkan said. “But Presidents are not kings, and the Plaintiff is not President.”

Trump gave an incendiary speech before the attack on the Capitol, repeating his false statements that the November 2020 election was stolen from him by widespread voting fraud and urging his supporters to go to the Capitol. and “fight like hell” to “stop stealing.”

His supporters stormed the Capitol in a failed bid to prevent Congress from formally confirming Biden’s election victory. Biden, a Democrat, took office Jan. 20.

About 700 people are facing criminal charges stemming from the riot.

Reporting by Jan Wolfe and Kanishka Singh; Additional reporting by Mike Scarcella; Edited by Andy Sullivan and Peter Cooney

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

[ad_2]