Friday 12 November 2021
The court stopped releasing the file
Trump is buying time with the Capitol attack
Commission of Inquiry to review the storming of the Capitol. Trump could stop releasing the documents at the last minute. But just for now: the US court maintains that the postponement should “in no way be misunderstood” as a decision on the matter.
In a legal row over handing over documents to address the storming of the Capitol, former US President Donald Trump obtained a last-minute reprieve in court. A day before documents from his time in the White House were handed over to a House investigative committee, a federal court in Washington granted an urgent request from Trump on Thursday. As a result of the court order, the National Archives was initially prohibited from delivering documents to Congress.
The court stressed that the adjournment “should in no way” be misunderstood as a decision to that effect. The case will now be heard on November 30. Trump wants to make sure that documents from his era regarding the January Capitol attack remain classified. So he’s failed in court so far — most recently on Tuesday in the same federal court in Washington. Then Trump’s lawyers filed an urgent request Thursday to gain time.
Trump insists on so-called executive privilege. This is one of the president’s powers to withhold certain information from Congress or the courts. However, the court said on Tuesday that the executive privilege is there to protect the government and not a single person who is no longer president either. The White House has already announced that Trump’s successor, Joe Biden, will not stop moving documents from the National Archives.
Trump supporters storm the US Congress seat on January 6. Five people, including a police officer, were killed. Trump had to face impeachment over the attack because he had previously incited his supporters in a speech. But at the end of the trial, he was acquitted.