Donald Trump asked the Supreme Court to block the release of the records on Jan. 6

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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 in the Capitol led by his supporters.

Trump’s lawyers have asked the Supreme Court to reverse lower court decisions against the former president, who fought to block the records even after President Joe Biden relinquished executive privilege to them. The federal appeals court in Washington had previously ruled that the committee had a “uniquely significant interest” in the documents and that Trump had “no basis” for it to override Biden and Congress.

Records 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, ”according to a previous court filing from the National Archives.

Trump’s filing comes on the day an administrative injunction issued by the appeals court is set to expire. That order, which prevents the release of records, will remain in place for now. Lawyers for the House committee asked the Supreme Court on Thursday to expedite its processes and consider the case in mid-January.

“The Select Committee needs the requested documents today to help shape the direction of the investigation and allow the Select Committee to recommend timely remedial legislation,” attorneys wrote for the committee.

Repeating the arguments they made in the lower courts, Trump’s lawyers wrote on Thursday that the case involves all future White House residents.

Former presidents have a “clear right to protect their confidential records from premature dissemination,” Trump’s lawyers said.

“Congress cannot engage in winding fishing expeditions in the hope of embarrassing President Trump or exposing the sensitive and privileged communications of the President and his staff‘ for exposure, ’” they added.

The House committee said the records were crucial to its investigation into dealing with the deadly insurgency aimed at overturning the results of the 2020 presidential election. Before and after the unrest, Trump promoted false theories about election fraud and suggested that the “real insurgency” was on Election Day, when he defeated Biden in an election confirmed by officials from both parties. as fair.

The case is widely expected to reach the Supreme Court, which has ruled several previous cases against Trump’s records. Trump appointed three of the court’s nine justices.

The court earlier this year refused to prevent his tax records from going to the New York prosecutor’s office as part of an investigation. This prevented Congress last year, while Trump was in office, from obtaining banking and financial records for him and his family members.

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