Tear gas is released into a crowd of protesters, with one wielding a Confederate battle flag that reads “Come and Take It,” during clashes with Capitol police at a rally to contest the certification of the 2020 U.S. presidential election results by the U.S. Congress, at the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, U.S, January 6, 2021.
Shannon Stapleton | Reuters
A federal appeals court on Thursday rejected President Donald Trump’s effort to block a House select committee from getting White House records related to the invasion of the Capitol.
The decision comes a day after Trump’s former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows sued in Washington federal court, seeking to void two subpoenas related to him that had been issued by the committee as part of its investigation into the Jan. 6 riot.
At issue in both cases is Trump’s claim that many of the materials sought by the select committee — including a tranche of White House records and testimony from his former staffers — are covered by executive privilege, the legal doctrine that protects White House communications from being made public. The Jan. 6 committee objected to Trump’s claims, and President Joe Biden waived privilege over the disputed records.
In a 68-page opinion, a panel of three judges on the U>S> Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington said that Trump “has provided no basis for this court to override President Biden’s judgment and the agreement and accommodations worked out between the Political Branches over these documents.”
Trump is almost certain to ask the Supreme Court to overturn the ruling.
A lawyer for Trump did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment on the ruling. A spokeswoman for Trump did not immediately provide comment.
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