Capitol attack: Trump defies handing over documents to Congress in court

In a 26-page lawsuit, his attorney summoned executive privilege and claimed that the commission’s inquiry into a fileJanuary 6 Capitol Attack Questions the separation of powers.

In a political ploy to appease his partisan allies, President Biden refused to take advantage of executive privilege on several documents demanded by the committee that obviously should [être protégés par] Honour [de l’exécutif]Jesse Pinal was charged in documents filed in federal court in the District of Columbia.

Files must be kept confidential because they may include discussions with [ou sur] Foreign leaders, as a result of the work of lawyers, the most sensitive national security secrets as well as all communications are privilegedly protected [de l’exécutif] For a group of up to hundreds of people, says the prosecution.

In his anticipated complaint, the former president denounced Almost unlimited range To request the House of Representatives Committee of Inquiry. While asserting that the requested documents are unreasonably related to the events of January 6, A . criticizes Malicious and illegal fishing trip […] without any legitimate judicial objective.

In particular, the committee wants to have in its possession documents relating to the meetings in which Donald Trump participated, the record of visitors to the White House, videos and photos taken on January 6 at the White House as well as Speech at the gathering In front of the White House, before his supporters stormed the building, he organized it on Twitter.

The former president’s lawyer also argues that the current president’s abdication of his predecessor’s executive privilege a few months after the latter left office is inherently unconstitutional.

The White House that last week His predecessor’s request was formally rejected From Joe Biden’s failure to hand the documents to the special committee, he believes the Capitol seat is an exceptional circumstance that legitimizes a waiver of the privilege that normally protects White House communications.

President Biden said he would consider each request individually to determine whether the privilege should be waived.

The White House recently gave the National Archives, which maintains White House documents and communications related to Donald Trump’s tenure, 30 days to turn over documents related to the January 6 date to the investigation committee. Initial license for 125 pages.

Donald Trump’s lawyer is seeking an injunction to prevent the National Archives from handing over these documents, but his lawsuit targets all documents requested by the committee.

Constitutional protections for executive privilege should not be used to withhold information from Congress or the public that reflects a clear and manifest effort to subvert the Constitution itself.White House lawyers argued earlier this month.

Executive privilege is not unlimited: For example, the Supreme Court has ruled that it cannot be invoked to prevent the release of classified Oval Office recordings requested as part of a criminal investigation.

According to CNN, several lawyers who worked for Donald Trump have refused to defend his case in court. This would be the case, among other things, with Jay Sekulow, who was part of the defense team in his first impeachment trial. Jesse Benall represented the former president in a lawsuit filed to prevent Joe Biden’s victory in Nevada, one of dozens of lawsuits Trump lost after his presidential defeat.

Bannon at the center of the contempt of Congress process

In the evening, the Committee on the Events of January 6 released a nearly twenty-page report detailing its – unsuccessful – efforts to encourage former President Trump’s former special counsel Steve Bannon to comply with the subpoena.

But Steve Bannon, who was due to testify before the committee last Thursday Challenge it.

In a letter he sent to the committee, his lawyer said he would abide by a possible court ruling on a case Executive privilege and professional confidentiality between attorney and client, but it was now in legal impossibility to bend over to her.

The committee is due to decide on Tuesday whether to recommend contempt of Congress charges.

The House of Representatives, in which Democrats have a majority, then votes on the matter, after which the decision rests with the Department of Justice.

Many experts say that executive privilege will not apply to Steve Bannon, a controversial figure in the American far-right conservative, who has He left office in the White House in 2017..

On January 5, he tried to persuade elected officials in Congress to block the ratification of the election and was in contact with Donald Trump a few days before the attack on Capitol Hill.

The committee also summoned former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and his deputy, Dan Scavino, as well as Cash Patel, who was the chief of staff for the Secretary of Defense, in addition to ordering them to produce the documents.

that they She was also to testify last week, but the committee staff said they did cooperated with the Commission and that the deadline for this has been postponed.

Last week, the House Special Committee also summoned Jeffrey Clark, the former Department of Justice official who allegedly Participate in efforts to overthrow the 2020 presidential election.

As a key witness, Mr. Clark was also ordered to produce documents.