Trump asks court to block records

WASHINGTON — Lawyers for former President Donald Trump on Thursday asked the Supreme Court to block the release of White House records concerning the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, arguing that he had a constitutional right to shield the materials from Congress even though President Biden declined to invoke executive privilege over them.

“The disagreement between an incumbent president and his predecessor from a rival political party is both novel and highlights the importance of executive privilege and the ability of presidents and their advisers to reliably make and receive full and frank advice, without concern that communications will be publicly released to meet a political objective,” Trump’s lawyers told the court.

The case raises novel constitutional questions about the separation of powers and the power of a president no longer in office. Trump’s lawyers asked the justices to block the release of the records while they decide whether to hear his appeal.

A special House committee investigating the attacks sought the records from the National Archives, which gave both Biden and Trump the opportunity to object.

Trump asserted executive privilege, a docWASHINGTON trine meant to protect the confidentiality of presidential communications, over some of the documents.

Biden took a different view in October in declining to assert executive privilege over some of the materials.

Trump sued to block release of the documents, saying that the House committee had no valid legislative reason to seek them.

Judge Tanya S. Chutkan, of the U.S. District Court in Washington, ruled against Trump. A unanimous three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia affirmed that ruling.