Executive Privilege

Former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows sent an email saying the National Guard would be present to 'protect pro Trump people' in the lead up to the US Capitol insurrection, according to a new report released by the January 6 committee Sunday night.

A U.S. appeals court on Thursday rejected a request by former President Donald Trump to withhold records from the House of Representatives probe of the deadly Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, saying he had provided "no basis" for his request.

"Former President Trump has provided no basis for this court to override President Biden's judgment," a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit wrote.

Donald Trump, the former US president, suffered a major defeat on Thursday when a federal appeals court ruled against his effort to block the release of documents related to the 6 January attack on the US Capitol.

Trump is expected to appeal to the supreme court.

The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals granted a request from former President Donald Trump to block the January 6 Committee’s access to his White House’s records in the National Archives on Thursday.

The House Select Committee on January 6 is tasked with investigating the events before, during and after the former president’s supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. The injunction is temporary, however, and only blocks the documents from being released while the larger legal question of whether the committee can legally access the documents is litigated.

A federal appeals court on Thursday intervened to temporarily block the National Archives from handing over Trump administration records to the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol ahead of a Friday deadline.

A three-judge panel for the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a temporary injunction keeping the records from being turned over to allow former President Trump to continue his legal challenge. 

A federal appeals court Thursday granted former President Donald Trump's request to temporarily block the National Archives from turning over his White House records to the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.

A federal judge expressed deep skepticism of former President Donald Trump's arguments that he can keep documents from his White House secret during an historic court hearing on Thursday related to the January 6 riot.

Judge Tanya Chutkan pressed Trump's lawyers on why, as a former President, he has any right to control the public access to hundreds of pages of records, especially as the House of Representatives investigates the insurrection.

Donald Trump's lawyers are defending his ability to assert executive privilege, even as an ex-President, in a reply brief in his lawsuit against the National Archives and the House select committee over January 6-related documents.

This is the last written argument scheduled to come in before a key court hearing Thursday on Trump's request to block the House January 6 committee from obtaining more than 700 pages of records from his presidency.

Former President Donald Trump filed a lawsuit on Monday in a Washington D.C. court against the House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol incident and against the National Archives in a bid to keep his presidential records classified, citing executive privilege.

Trump’s court filing, namely, argues (pdf) that the committee’s records request is too broad and doesn’t serve any legislative purpose.

President Trump filed a lawsuit Monday seeking to block the National Archives from releasing White House records to the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection, citing executive privilege.

Why it matters: It's the latest escalation in Trump's campaign to disrupt the committee's sweeping probe into the circumstances surrounding Jan. 6, including his actions and communications leading up to the Capitol attack.