The United States Supreme Court has now ended the former President Donald Trump’s request to block the release of White House records that have been sought for by the Democrat-led congressional panel that is investigating the riots from Jan. 6, 2021, on Tuesday.
The court’s decision to issue a formal rejection of the former president’s appeal follows its Jan. 19 order which led to the documents being given to the House of Representatives investigative committee by the federal government agency that stores both government and historical records.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Dec. 9 upheld a lower court ruling that Trump had no basis to challenge President Joe Biden’s decision to allow the records to be handed over to the House of Representatives select committee. Trump then appealed to the Supreme Court
Trump and his allies have waged an ongoing legal battle with the House select committee seeking to block access to documents and witnesses. Trump has sought to invoke a legal principle known as executive privilege, which protects the confidentially of some internal White House communications, a stance rejected by lower courts.
The House committee has said it needed the records to understand any role Trump may have played in fomenting the violence that unfolded on that day, when protesters stormed the Capitol in a failed bid to prevent Congress from formally certifying Biden’s 2020 presidential election victory over Trump.
The committee then asked the National Archives to produce visitor logs, phone records, and written communications between the former president’s advisers.
President Joe Biden had previously made the determination that the records, which are the property of the executive branch, should not be subject to executive privilege.