Trump asked the Supreme Court to block Jan. 6 Capitol riot panel taking records

[ad_1]

U.S. President Donald Trump spoke at a retreat with Republican lawmakers at Camp David in Thurmont, Maryland, January 6, 2018.

Facebook facebook Saul Loeb to contact AFP | Getty Images

Former President Donald Trump asked the Supreme Court on Thursday to block a request for White House records from a select House committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot in the Capitol by a mob of Trump supporters.

The request came two weeks after two lower courts rejected Trump’s argument that records are protected by executive privilege, a legal doctrine that allows certain communications with the White House to be kept private.

President Joe Biden refused to exercise privilege on the disputed documents.

The Supreme Court is not obligated to hear Trump’s case, which seeks to prevent the National Archives from giving the House committee hundreds of pages of records from the Trump White House.

The former president requested that until the Supreme Court decides whether to take up his case, it blocks the records from being sent to the panel temporarily.

Trump’s lawyers, in their petition seeking the Supreme Court’s review, said the House committee “involves important constitutional and statutory concerns arising from the Presidential Records Act, separation of powers, and executive privilege. . “

“A former President has the right to assert executive privilege, even after his term in office,” the petition argues. “Congress cannot rifle the confidential roles of a former President to meet political goals or advance a case study.”

Trump lashed out at the committee in a statement Thursday in which he reiterated his false claim that Biden had elected him president simply because of widespread ballot fraud.

“People being persecuted by the January 6th Unselect Committee should just tell the truth, that they hate the RIGGED Presidential Election of 2020,” Trump said.

“People have the right to Freedom of Speech, and there is probably no time in the history of our Country where Freedom of Speech has been grossly violated,” he said. “They don’t want to talk about the election result because they know they won’t win.”

Trump’s request to the Supreme Court to withdraw his appeal came as a select committee reviewed his role in the unrest in January, when hundreds of Trump supporters violently stormed the Capitol and forced members of the House and Senate. who fled to their chambers.

Politics of CNBC

Read more coverage on CNBC’s politics:

The rioters, many of whom were motivated by Trump’s repeated lie that election victory in 2020 was stolen from him, have temporarily stopped Congress from confirming Biden’s victory at the Electoral College.

The committee is also investigating whether Trump sought to prevent Congress from its official duty to count electoral votes.

U.S. Representative Liz Cheney (R-WY) testified before the House Rules Committee about the January 6th Select Committee’s recommendation that the House hold Mark Meadows as a criminal contempt in Congress at the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, Dec. 14, 2021.

Elizabeth Frantz | Reuters

The vice chair of the panel, Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, one of two Republicans on the nine -member committee, last week said a “key question before this committee” is whether Trump, “by action or inaction, is corrupt. . [sought] to obstruct or obstruct the official proceedings of Congress in the counting of electoral votes. “

A federal district judge last month ruled against Trump’s efforts to keep records from the committee, writing that his stance “seems based on the notion that his executive power exists indefinitely. . but the presidents are not kings, and the Plaintiff is not President. “

In disputes between current and former presidents, “the incumbent’s perspective is given greater weight,” Judge Tanya Chutkan wrote.

Trump appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, but that court upheld Chutkan’s decision.

Biden “and the Legislative Branch have demonstrated national interest and a stringent need for immediate disclosure of these documents,” a panel of three circuit court judges said in their Dec. 9 decision.

However, the appellate court granted Trump’s request to temporarily suspend the release of documents during the trial, giving Trump’s lawyers 14 days to submit filings to the Supreme Court before the interim injunction is removed.

[ad_2]