Former US President Donald Trump has filed a lawsuit to block the release of documents to the congressional committee investigating the January 6th Capitol attack. Trump attorney Jesse Binnall filed a lawsuit in a federal court in the US capital Washington on Monday (local time), the US media published.
Trump insists on the so-called executive privilege. This is the president’s prerogative to withhold certain information from Congress or the courts. Whether the executive privilege also applies to former presidents is controversial. There is a process in which the former president has a deadline to exercise executive privilege, government spokeswoman Jen Psaki said. The current president then has a deadline to consider this application. For a first set of documents, US President Joe Biden came to the conclusion that secrecy could not be invoked. The transfer of documents from the National Archives to the Congress Committee will not be stopped by him.
Trump’s lawsuit stated that the Congressional Committee’s requirements for documents were “unprecedented in breadth and scope and with no legitimate legislative purpose”. The request to the National Archives is illegal and serves to “harass” Trump and high-ranking members of his administration. For example, the committee asked for all documents related to statements by Trump or other people on January 6th. Biden’s willingness to have the documents released was “a political ruse to accommodate his party allies.”
Supporters of Trump stormed the seat of the US Congress in Washington on January 6th. Five people were killed, including a police officer. Trump had to face impeachment proceedings for the attack because he had previously incited his supporters in a speech. However, at the end of the trial, the Republican was acquitted. The committee in the US House of Representatives, which is dominated by Biden’s Democrats, is to investigate the background to the attack on the Capitol.