On Thursday, a federal appeals court intervened to prevent the National Archives from handing over Trump administration records to a House committee investigating the January 6 attack on the US Capitol before a Friday deadline, according to The Hill.
Put Hold Release
Just one day before those records are scheduled to be delivered; former President Trump requested a federal appeals court to put a hold on the release of White House documents to lawmakers investigating the deadly Capitol invasion. According to CNBC, an administrative injunction, albeit a brief one, is the latest step taken by Trump to prevent the National Archives from handing over reams of documents to the House select committee looking into the attack on January 6.
There will be a delay granted by the US Court of Appeals on Thursday, which will allow its judges to review the case in more detail. There will be oral arguments in the appeals court on November 30, and the case could be appealed to the Supreme Court.
Judges Patricia Millett, Robert Wilkins, and Ketanji Brown Jackson, appointed by Democratic presidents, issued the ruling. Former President Barack Obama appointed Millett and Wilkins, while Jackson was appointed by Joe Biden, the President, as per NBC News.
Want To Use Executive Privilege
There are memos, emails, and other records of conversations and visits to the White House that Trump wants to keep secret in perpetuity, arguing that he has executive privilege over them. Biden, on the other hand, believes the records should be made public by the National Archives.
The first wave of documents was due to be released Thursday morning. Still, Trump’s legal team filed an appeal Thursday morning arguing that releasing them before oral arguments would jeopardize the records’ secrecy.
However, U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan ruled in her decision that former President Trump had little authority to interfere with the exchange between the executive and legislative branches of our government. A short time later, according to NPR, Trump filed an appeal to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals.
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