Trump Asks Supreme Court To Block January 6 White House Records
Published
Former US president Donald Trump has asked for documents from his time in the White House to be blocked from the House committee investigating the Capitol riots.
On Thursday, December 23, Trump asked the Supreme Court to block the documents, which related to the January 6 riot at the Capitol, in which a mob of Trump supporters attempted to disrupt the certification of Joe Biden’s victory in the presidential election. Five people died as a result of the riot.
The House Committee is seeking the documents as part of its investigation into the January 6 incident, with the view of helping prevent other such occurrences in the future.
In Supreme Court filings, Trump’s lawyers asked for the documents to be blocked, asking for a hold on the lower court decision to disclose the documents while his position is considered, CNN reports.
The filings read:
The limited interest the [House] Committee may have in immediately obtaining the requested records pales in comparison to President Trump’s interest in securing judicial review before he suffers irreparable harm.
Currently, the documents are being held by the National Archives and are wanted by the committee to explore Trump’s role in attempting to overturn the election. They also wish to look into his appearance at a rally on January 6, where he directed his followers to the Capitol.
Included in the documents are activity logs, schedules, speech notes and three pages of hand-written notes from Mark Meadows, former White House chief of staff. It is thought that these documents may reveal what happened in the West Wing as Trump supporters stormed the Capitol.
In addition to these documents, Trump is also seeking to keep secret memos and documents that relate to the supposed election fraud, efforts to overturn the election, as well as a draft proclamation honouring two police officers that died during the riots.
Trump’s efforts to block the documents stem from a lawsuit the former president filed against both the National Archive and the House Committee, attempting to stop the records’ disclosure.
Trump argues that the documents should remain a secret, under his executive privilege as president, but so far lower courts have rejected this view.
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