A federal judge on Tuesday rejected former President Donald Trump's request to block the National Archives from turning over certain documents to the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.
U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan ruled that Congress had a strong public interest in obtaining the records related to the violent riot, during which a mob of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol to disrupt the certification of Joe Biden's win in November's presidential election. Multiple people died in the insurrection.
The judge noted that President Biden had the authority to excercise – or waive – executive privilege over the documents.
“At bottom, this is a dispute between a former and incumbent President,” Judge Chutkan said. “And the Supreme Court has already made clear that in such circumstances, the incumbent’s view is accorded greater weight.”
Trump “does not acknowledge the deference owed” to Biden’s judgment as the current president, Chutkan added, noting examples of past presidents declining to assert executive privilege.
Judge Chutkan rejected what she said was Trump’s claim that executive privilege "exists in perpetuity," adding: "Presidents are not kings, and Plaintiff is not President."
Barring a court order, the National Archives will turn over the requested documents to the committee by Friday, but Trump has already pledged to appeal the ruling. A spokesperson for the former president wrote on Twitter that the case "was destined to be decided by the Appellate Courts."
Mississippi Rep. Bennie Thompson, the chair of the House Select Committee probing the Jan. 6 attack, wrote in a statement that the panel "appreciates the Court’s swift and decisive ruling on the former President’s lawsuit," adding that he considers it to be "little more than an attempt to delay and obstruct our investigation."
"The presidential records we requested from the National Archives are critical for understanding the terrible events of January 6th," Thompson wrote. "Along our country’s history, the Executive Branch has provided Congress with testimony and information when it has been in the public interest. This evening’s ruling is consistent with that tradition. And in my view, there couldn’t be a more compelling public interest than getting answers about an attack on our democracy."
"Furthermore, as Judge Chutkan pointed out during oral arguments and in her opinion, in this case, Congress and the Executive Branch are in agreement about that strong public interest," he added. "Tonight’s ruling makes clear the Court’s respect for that prerogative."
According to an earlier court filing from the archives, the records include call logs, drafts of remarks and speeches and handwritten notes from Trump’s then-chief of staff, Mark Meadows. There are also copies of talking points from then-press secretary Kayleigh McEnany and “a draft Executive Order on the topic of election integrity,” the National Archives has said.
The nine-member House committee is investigating not just Trump’s conduct on Jan. 6 — when he told a rally to “fight like hell” shortly before rioters overran law enforcement — but his efforts in the months before the riot to challenge election results or obstruct a peaceful transfer of power. The committee has interviewed more than 150 witnesses and issued more than 30 subpoenas, including ones announced Tuesday to McEnany and former top adviser Stephen Miller. It is unclear, so far, whether the lawmakers will eventually call Trump to testify.
Trump has repeatedly attacked the committee’s work and continued to promote unfounded conspiracy theories about widespread fraud in the election, despite the fact that Biden’s win was certified by all 50 states and his claims have been rebuked by courts across the country.
The move came one day after the same federal judge refused an emergency order from the former president seeking to temporarily block the release of the documents ahead of Chutkan's ruling.
Trump's legal team filed an emergency motion for an injunction late Monday night to temporarily block the National Archives from sending the records to the panel ahead of a Friday deadline — but Judge Chutkan of the U.S. District Court for Washington, D.C., quickly rejected the measure shortly after midnight Tuesday, calling it “premature.”
The ruling came days after Chutkan expressed skepticism that Trump can keep his documents shielded from the Congressional panel.
"Are you really saying that the President's notes, talking points, telephone conversations, on January 6, have no relation to the matter on which Congress is considering legislation?" Chutkan asked the president's attorneys. "The January 6 riot happened in the Capitol. That is literally Congress' house."
She did, however, signal that she could block some "unbelievably broad" requests for documents from the panel.
Trump’s attorney, Jesse Binnall, argued that "this case should be decided after thorough but expeditious consideration pursuant to America’s judicial review process, both before this Court and on appeal, not by a race against the clock."
The former president filed a lawsuit in October seeking to block the release of the records, saying that the requests were “unprecedented in their breadth and scope and are untethered from any legitimate legislative purpose.”
Trump’s lawsuit says the “boundless requests included over fifty individual requests for documents and information, and mentioned more than thirty individuals, including those working inside and outside government.” The suit says the request could include “conversations with (or about) foreign leaders, attorney work product, the most sensitive of national security secrets, along with any and all privileged communications among a pool of potentially hundreds of people.”
But because Trump no longer is in office, he cannot directly assert privilege to keep witnesses quiet or documents out of the hands of Congress.
As the current president, Joe Biden does have a say in the matter — but his administration said on Oct. 8 that they would not block the handover of documents sought by the House committee.
The documents filed by Trump’s lawyers on Monday cited Biden’s refusal to accept Trump’s assertion of executive privilege, saying the investigation “amounts to nothing less than a vexatious, illegal fishing expedition openly endorsed by Biden and designed to unconstitutionally investigate President Trump and his administration.”
The lawsuit specifically names the chair and vice chair of the panel, Rep.Thompson and Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney, respectively. The two lawmakers blasted the suit as "nothing more than an attempt to delay and obstruct our probe."
Binnall previously represented Trump in an unsuccessful lawsuit in 2020 seeking to overturn Biden’s victory in Nevada. Trump and his allies have continued to make unfounded, baseless claims about widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election.
There is no evidence of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election, a statement backed up by officials of both parties, including Trump's own attorney general William Barr, and courts nationwide who rejected cases brought by the former president and his allies.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.