Trump asks the Supreme Court to block release of records from Jan. 6
WASHINGTON — Former President Donald Trump turned to the Supreme Court on Thursday in a last-ditch effort to keep documents away from the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol led by his supporters.
Trump’s attorneys asked the Supreme Court to reverse lower court rulings against the former president, who has fought to block the records even after President Joe Biden waived executive privilege over them. The federal appeals court in Washington previously ruled the committee had a “uniquely vital interest” in the documents and Trump had “provided no basis” for it to override Biden and Congress.
The records include presidential diaries, visitor logs, speech drafts, handwritten notes “concerning the events of January 6” from the files of former chief of staff Mark Meadows, and “a draft Executive Order on the topic of election integrity,” according to a previous court filing from the National Archives.
Trump’s filing came on the day that an administrative injunction issued by the appeals court was set to otherwise expire. That injunction, preventing the release of records, will remain in place for now. Lawyers for the House committee asked the Supreme Court later Thursday to expedite its processes and consider the case as soon as mid-January.
“The Select Committee needs the requested documents now to help shape the direction of the investigation and allow the Select Committee to timely recommend remedial legislation,” lawyers for the committee wrote.
Repeating arguments they made before lower courts, Trump’s attorneys wrote Thursday that the case concerned all future occupants of the White House.
Former presidents had “a clear right to protect their confidential records from premature dissemination,” Trump’s lawyers said.
The House committee has said the records are vital to its investigation into the run-up to the deadly insurrection aimed at overturning the results of the 2020 presidential election.
Belarus crackdown: Belarusian authorities labeled the local service of the U.S.funded broadcaster Radio Free Europe/ Radio Liberty extremist, launched a criminal probe against one of its journalists and arrested another one Thursday.
It was the latest move in a monthslong, multi-pronged crackdown on the country’s independent media.
Belarus’ Interior Ministry added the outlet, known in the country as Radio Svaboda (Radio Freedom), and its journalists to the government registry of extremist organizations. Earlier this month, a court in the Belarusian capital Minsk ruled to designate the social media pages of Radio Svaboda as extremist.
Journalists and members of the public in Belarus may face up to seven years in prison for disseminating content produced by “extremist” outlets.