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.
Shannon Stapleton | Reuters
A federal appeals court on Thursday rejected President Donald Trump’s effort to block a House select committee from getting a tranche of White House records as part of its investigation of the Capitol invasion.
Trump had argued that the records are protected by executive privilege, the legal doctrine that protects White House communications from being made public. The select committee objected to Trump’s claims, and President Joe Biden waived privilege over the disputed records.
In its ruling Thursday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit said that Biden “and the Legislative Branch have shown a national interest in and pressing need for the prompt disclosure of these documents.”
Trump “has provided no basis for this court to override President Biden’s judgment and the agreement and accommodations worked out between the Political Branches over these documents,” the three-judge appeals panel said in its 68-page opinion.
Trump is almost certain to ask the Supreme Court to overturn the ruling, which gave him two weeks before the court-ordered hold on the disputed records is lifted.
A lawyer for Trump, and a spokeswoman for him, did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment on the ruling.
The decision comes a day after Trump’s former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows filed a lawsuit in Washington federal court that seeks to void two subpoenas issued by the committee.
This is breaking news. Please check back for updates.
