Supreme Court Rejects Trump Bid to Shield Documents from Capitol Attack Panel

By Staff, Agencies

The US Supreme Court rejected a request by former president Donald Trump to block the release of White House records to the congressional committee investigating the deadly January 6 attack on the Capitol, dealing him a blow.

The order, which casts aside Trump’s request to stop the House select committee from obtaining the records while the case makes its way through the courts, means more than 700 documents that could shed light on the attack can be transferred to Congress.

The only member of the high court who signaled he would have granted Trump’s request for an injunction was Justice Clarence Thomas. The order did not provide a reasoning for turning down the application, which is not uncommon for requests for emergency stays.

Trump’s defeat in court allows the select committee to obtain from the National Archives some of the most sensitive White House records from his administration, including call logs, daily presidential diaries, handwritten notes and memos from his top aides.

The documents, which Trump tried to shield behind claims of executive privilege, also included materials in the files of his former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, deputy counsel Pat Philbin and advisor Stephen Miller.

“These records all relate to the events on or about January 6, and may assist the Select Committee’s investigation into that day,” justice department attorneys, acting on behalf of chief archivist David Ferriero, wrote in an earlier filing.

The Supreme Court’s action, which follows the earlier rejection of Trump’s request by two lower courts, is also likely to have a cascading effect on other lawsuits filed against the panel, which hinged on the success of Trump’s pending litigation.

Lawyers for Trump had urged the Supreme Court to take the case as they disagreed with the unanimous ruling of the US appeals court for the DC circuit that current president Joe Biden could waive executive privilege over the objections of a former president.