The National Archives said many files were drawn from the systems of key Trump aides, including former Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, Counselor Stephen Miller, and Deputy Counselor Patrick Philbin.
Other documents include “a draft text of the presidential speech for the Save America March 6, 2021; a handwritten list of possible or scheduled meetings and telephone calls related to election issues; and a draft executive order on election integrity… a draft proclamation in honor of the deceased Capitol officers Brian Sicknick and Howard Liebengood and related emails from the Executive Officer’s Office regarding the interest of the selected committee in the White House’s response to the Capitol Attack. “
“All of these records relate to the events of January 6 or around and may help in the investigation of the selected committee on that day, including what happened in the White House immediately before, during and after the January 6 attack,” the attorneys said. Ministry of Acting on behalf of archivist David Ferrier, he wrote in the file.
The documents were discovered in four separate tranches set by the National Archives since the selection committee requested them on January 6 at the end of August. On October 15, Trump filed a lawsuit to block the release and asked a federal judge to issue an urgent order to prevent the National Archives from forwarding it to the committee.
The National Archives submitted its application in response to Trump’s lawsuit, in which he demanded an urgent court order to prevent Ferrier from forwarding them to Congress. Trump argued that disclosing the documents would destroy executive privileges and represent an unprecedented intrusion into the executive branch.
But the archives rejected Trump’s legal arguments, stressing that the committee’s demands on Jan. 6 were tailored specifically to his investigation and that President Joe Biden had already made an “apparently reasonable” decision to reject Trump’s claims of privilege.
“Even assuming that executive privilege is exercised, the documents can help the committee selected understand its efforts to communicate with the American public, including those who attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, on alleged voter fraud, election security, and other topics related to elections in 2020, ”the application reads.
Trump’s efforts to suppress more than 750 pages of records are much broader than previously known, and include documents from three separate tranches identified by the National Archives since early October in response to a January 6 selection committee request.
V own application, an elected committee on Jan. 6 says a federal court must reject Trump’s efforts to halt his investigation or risk future elections being the subject of abuse.
The committee argues that the ongoing efforts of Trump and his allies to undermine confidence in the federal election reinforce the committee’s need to access Trump’s White House records to understand his attempt to overturn the 2020 election results.
“The urgency of the work cannot be overstated,” house counselor Doug Letter writes in a 52-page legal order delivered to Judge Tanya Chutkan on Friday night. “The threat that caused the January 6 attack is ongoing. Those who falsely claimed that the election was stolen (including Mr. Trump) continue to do so. “
Chutkan is scheduled to have a hearing Thursday on Trump’s offer to block access to his records. She was among the most outspoken judges on the federal bench in Washington, DC, who described the January 6 attack as a fundamental attack on democracy – led by rioters loyal to Trump. In the chaos that day, several rioters were killed and more than 140 police officers were injured.
Ferriero has indicated that he intends to deliver the first tranche of documents by November 12, unless the court orders otherwise.
In his lawsuit, Trump argues that the committee’s efforts to investigate the attack are political, and efforts to obtain its documents would reduce the ability of all future presidents to have open talks with advisers and allies.
But in his new role, the committee vehemently rejects these claims, noting that Biden has already judged the investigation to be well-founded and that Trump’s unique role of encouraging false allegations of elections justifies an intense retelling of his actions.
“Mr Trump is – for now – one example,” the committee said. the crowd to attack the Capitol. No major need to be examined to see how legislation can prevent such acts from happening again. “
In addition, the committee says that if Trump’s lawsuit succeeds, it could condemn efforts to fully understand what happened on Jan. 6 and “prevent a similar future attack on American democracy.”
In its role, the committee emphasizes that Biden agrees with the legislators on the urgency of the investigation. And he cites a precedent from the Nixon era and notes that the Supreme Court has ruled that former presidents have less statutory powers to demand the confidentiality of executive branch records.
Importantly, he argues that this is the first time that the current president has objected to the claim of privileges granted by the former president. Biden’s demand should win, he argues, because the courts have ruled that the current president has a better perspective on how to protect the interests of the executive branch.
“As President Biden noted, any burden on the president’s office is greatly outweighed by the urgent need of the elected committee for information to pass legislation that is crucial to our democracy,” the committee writes.
Biden has repeatedly refused to exercise executive privilege over the records requested by the committee on January 6, but the committee postponed the request for about 50 pages identified by the National Archives as important. The members of the committee stated that the purpose of the decision was to prevent a possible long delay due to possible concerns about privileges.
On January 6, the committee also rejected Trump’s claim that the Supreme Court’s ruling in a separate case – Parliament’s 2019 attempt to obtain its financial records – should close the committee’s request for his documents in the White House. That judgment, according to the committee, concerned only the personal documents of the current president, not the official records of the former president.
Trump also argued that the committee’s need for its documents was minimal and that the council could pursue its legislative goals without obtaining records it deems privileged. But the committee described the term as “absurd.”
“The long public record of Mr Trump’s statements and actions … provides an abundant basis for finding non-public records of the person the attackers wanted to keep in the White House,” the committee writes. “Any investigation that would not insist on reviewing Mr. Trump’s documents and communications would be worse than useless – the equivalent of staging a production of ‘Hamlet’ without a Danish prince.”