Trump cannot block congressional probe of attack on U.S. Capitol, judge rules

[November 10, 2021]    By Jan Wolfe

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

Tear gas is released into a crowd of protesters, with one wielding a Confederate battle flag that reads "Come and Take It," during clashes with Capitol police at a rally to contest the certification of the 2020 U.S. presidential election results by the U.S. Congress, at the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, U.S, January 6, 2021. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton

U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan in the District of Columbia rejected an argument by Trump's lawyers that telephone records, visitor logs and other White House documents should be hidden from the committee.

"While broad, these requests, and each of the other requests made by the Committee, do not exceed the Committee’s legislative powers," Chutkan said in her decision.

Trump had argued that the materials requested by the House committee were covered by a legal doctrine known as executive privilege https://www.reuters.com/world/us/can-trump-use-executive-privilege-block-jan-6-attack-probe-2021-09-09 that protects the confidentiality of some White House communications.

He requested an injunction blocking the National Archives, a federal agency that holds his White House records, from complying with the committee's requests for hundreds of pages of documents.

Jesse Binnall, a lawyer for Trump, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Trump quickly filed a court notice indicating he would appeal the decision.

The committee has said it needs the requested materials to understand the role Trump may have played in fomenting the riot.

"That's a big deal," U.S. Representative Bennie Thompson, chairman of the House of Representatives select committee, said in an interview on CNN. "I look forward to getting this information. I look forward to our investigators going through it with a fine-tooth comb to make sure that our government was not weaponized against its citizens."

Chutkan said Trump had not acknowledged "the deference owed to" President Joe Biden's determination that the committee could access the materials.

"His (Trump's) position that he may override the express will of the executive branch appears to be premised on the notion that his executive power ‘exists in perpetuity,'" Chutkan said. "But Presidents are not kings, and Plaintiff is not President."

Trump gave an incendiary speech before the assault on the Capitol, repeating his false claims that the November 2020 election was stolen from him through widespread voting fraud and urging his supporters to go to the Capitol and "fight like hell" to "stop the steal."

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

About 700 people face criminal charges stemming from the riot.

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

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