WASHINGTON , — Federal Judge was skeptical when former President Donald Trump’s attorneys asked her to stop the House committee from requesting documents. The House committee is investigating the Jan. 6 rebellion.
U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan stated that some of the requests from the committee dating back to April 2020 were “alarmingly broad”. She disagreed with Trump’s lawyers’ claim that Congress didn’t have a legislative purpose to obtain Trump’s call logs and talking points from Jan. 6, when his supporters stormed Capitol in an attempt to overturn his loss against President Joe Biden.
She said that the Jan. 6 riot took place in the Capitol. “That is literally Congress’ house.”
Chutkan stated that she would soon rule on Trump’s lawsuit, which seeks to prevent the release of documents related the the House committee insurrection. Biden waivedexecutive privilege for documents held by Trump’s White House. This set up a clash between Trump and the executive-legislative branches, which is likely to lead to a battle that will go to the Supreme Court.
According to a National Archives court filing, the records to be provided to the committee would include call logs and drafts of speeches and remarks, as well as handwritten notes from Mark Meadows (Trump’s former chief of staff), according to a court filing. According to the National Archives, there are also copies of Kayleigh McEnany’s talking points and a draft Executive Order regarding election integrity.
Chutkan stated Friday that Trump’s previous attempts to withhold tax returns and other records were different as they involved his personal finances. She said that the current dispute is over documents that “are believed to further Congress’ oversight of the events on Jan. 6”.
Some of the many demands made by the committee to review Trump communications and other records were questioned by the judge. She specifically asked about a request for polling information held by Trump campaign officials back to April 2020.
Douglas Letter, a House lawyer, claimed that polls could provide insights into Trump’s spread of unfounded conspiracy theories regarding election fraud.
Chutkan stated at one point that “he didn’t want the election to lose.” “Do you really need polling data in order to find out if a president up for reelection wants to win, and is worried that he won’t win?”
Biden has not waived executive privilege so far on almost all documents the committee has requested, but the committee did agree to “defer”, several dozen pages of records requests at the request of the Biden White House.
White House counsel Dana Remus, White House counsel, wrote that Trump’s records have not been shielded by Biden. She suggested that they could shed light on January 6th events and focus on the Select Committee’s need for understanding the facts.
Trump called the document request a “vexatious and illegal fishing expedition” in his lawsuit against the National Archives to stop the National Archives turning over the documents.
This suit also challenges the legality and constitutionality of the Presidential Records Act. It allows an incumbent president waive executive privilege of a predecessor. Biden stated that he would review each request individually to determine if the privilege should be waived.
