Defeat for Donald Trump
US court approves submission of files on the storming of the Capitol to underground committee
In order to investigate the attack on the Capitol in Washington DC on January 6, 2021, a committee of inquiry commissioned by Congress is now allowed to inspect the files
© J. Scott Applewhite / DPA
The committee of inquiry into the storming of the US Capitol has summoned further Donald Trump employees. In addition, following a court ruling, the former president has suffered defeat.
A US federal court has approved the surrender of the files on the storming of the Capitol. According to court documents released on Tuesday, the documents may be handed over to a parliamentary committee of inquiry in Congress. Former President Donald Trump, whose supporters stormed the Capitol in January, had sued against the release of the documents.
The court believes that “the public interest requires that the legislative and executive have a joint desire to investigate the events that occurred before and on January 6,” said Federal Judge Tanya Chutkan in a statement has been published by several US media. It must be prevented “that such events ever repeat themselves”.
Ex-President Trump had sued against the access to the files
Trump’s “stance that he can override the express will of the executive is based on the assumption that his executive powers are ‘lifelong,'” said Chutkan in the 39-page statement. “But presidents are not kings, the plaintiff is not president.”
Trump had invoked the so-called executive privilege in his lawsuit against the surrender. This allows a president to keep certain documents secret.
Trump is resisting the handover of more than 770 archive pages to the House of Representatives, which, according to the National Archives, include records of his former chief of staff Mark Meadows, his former advisor Stephen Miller and former vice legal advisor Patrick Philbin. Trump also wants to block the publication of the so-called Daily Diary of the White House – a record of his activities, trips, briefings and phone calls.
Committee of Inquiry summons witnesses
Other documents Trump wants to withhold from MPs include memos to his former press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, a handwritten note on the January 6th events, and a draft of his speech at a rally before the Capitol storming.
The committee of inquiry called McEnany, Miller and eight other former Trump employees as witnesses on Tuesday. “The committee of inquiry wants to find out every detail about what was going on in the White House on January 6th and in the days before,” said committee chairman Bennie Thompson.
Trump attorneys prepare to appeal
“We need to know exactly what role the former president and his staff played in efforts to stop the vote counting and whether they were in contact with anyone outside the White House who was trying to overturn the outcome of the election,” explained Thompson. The witnesses summoned would likely have “relevant information” on the matter.
Several US media reported that Trump’s lawyers are already preparing an appeal. Trump’s spokesman Taylor Budowich told the online service Twitter that Trump would continue to “defend the constitution and the presidency”. The question of executive privilege “is intended to be decided by the appellate courts”.
Trump holds on to allegations of election fraud
Trump does not recognize his election defeat last November against Joe Biden to this day. He repeated his completely unsubstantiated accusation of massive electoral fraud in front of supporters in Washington on January 6, when Congress wanted to certify Biden’s election victory.
Trump had called on his listeners to march to the Capitol and “fight the hell out of it”. Hundreds of radical Trump supporters stormed the parliament building as a result. Five people were killed in the course of the violence.
The House of Representatives immediately initiated impeachment proceedings against Trump, but the two-thirds majority required for a conviction was not achieved in the Senate impeachment process. The House of Representatives then set up the committee of inquiry to clarify the background to the storming of the Capitol.