Trump asked the Supreme Court to block the release of the documents

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WASHINGTON (AP)-Former President Donald Trump appeared in the Supreme Court on Thursday in a final effort to remove documents from the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurgency at the Capitol.

Trump’s lawyers argued in their petition to the Supreme Court that “both the Constitution and the Presidential Records Act give former Presidents the explicit right to protect their confidential records from premature dissemination. This case presents a clear threat to that right. ”

A federal appeals court ruled against Trump two weeks ago, but prohibited documents held by the National Archives from being returned before the Supreme Court to have a chance to weigh in. Trump appointed three of the nine justices.

Trump sued the Jan. 6 House committee and the National Archives to prevent the White House from allowing the release of documents related to the insurgency. Trump says that as a former president he has the right to assert executive privilege on the records, arguing that releasing them would damage the presidency in the future.

But President Joe Biden ruled that the documents were in the public interest and executive privilege therefore should not be used. Documents include the president’s diaries, guest notes, speech drafts, handwritten notes “about the events of Jan. 6″ from the files of former chief of staff Mark Meadows, and ” a draft Executive Order on the subject of electoral integrity, ”the Archives said.

The House committee said the records were important in its investigation into dealing with the deadly turmoil aimed at overturning the results of the 2020 presidential election.

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