Washington | A court on Thursday authorized the transfer to Congress of documents that could implicate Donald Trump in the January 6 attack on the Capitol, a setback for the former president who does not intend to stop there.
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This decision paves the way for hundreds of pages of documents to be referred to a parliamentary committee tasked with shedding light on the former Republican president’s role in this attack. However, the court left him for fourteen days to appeal to the United States Supreme Court.
His spokesman immediately announced that he intended to do so.
“Whatever decision the Court of Appeals took today, this case was always supposed to go to the Supreme Court,” Liz Harrington said on Twitter.
Donald Trump wants to keep these archives secret, including, among other things, lists of people who visited or contacted him that day.
Photos from the Reuters archive
The Democrats’ hands committee is investigating the congressional seat attack by his supporters, when elected officials witnessed Joe Biden’s victory in the presidential election.
The former president, who denies any responsibility for the assault, denounces the “political game” and refuses to cooperate. He took legal action in the name of the executive branch’s prerogative to keep his communications confidential, even in the event of a congressional subpoena.
After initial conflicting rulings, an appeals court ruled Thursday that it had no reason to oppose the decision of current White House tenant Joe Biden, who authorized the National Archives to turn over these documents to Congress.
“In this case, a rare and powerful combination of factors () supports the publication of the documents in question (…) in light of the need to investigate and address the violent and unprecedented attack on Congress,” wrote Judge Patricia Millett of the Washington Federal Court of Appeals.
race against time
This decision represents an important victory in the race for time initiated by the Special Committee of the House of Representatives.
It wants at all costs to publish its findings before the midterm elections, in less than a year during which Republicans can retake control of the House and bury his work.
With that deadline in mind, the commission is moving forward: It has already heard more than 300 witnesses, Republican Liz Cheney, one of the teams it chairs, said Thursday.
But the former White House tenant urged those around him to join forces.
One of the architects of his victory in 2016, Steve Bannon, has ignored calls to Congress and is accused of obstructing the powers of a parliamentary inquiry, which is why he faces imprisonment.
Donald Trump’s former chief of staff, Mark Meadows, faces the same fate. The committee will meet on Monday to decide whether to recommend prosecution.
Liz Cheney warned on Twitter: “Don’t be fooled: President Trump is trying to cover up what happened on January 6th.” We won’t let that happen.”
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