The Supreme Court rejected former President Donald Trump’s request to halt White House records and communications being turned over to the congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
On Tuesday, the justices announced they would not hear the case Trump v. Bennie Thompson, the chairman of the House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack.
Mr. Trump’s lawyers had argued Congress was violating the separation of powers and running afoul of executive privilege by its “sweeping” request.
“Congress limited its own access to Presidential records when it adopted the Presidential Records Act, a law it now stubbornly refuses to follow,” they wrote in a court filing. “The Select Committee, however, ignored these restrictions by sending a ’sweeping’ records request to the National Archives and Records Administration seeking broad swaths of confidential records created during President Trump’s term of office.”
The committee sought documents and communications between Mr. Trump and Vice President Mike Pence as well as about two-dozen other officials, such as White House counsel and the national security advisor relating to Jan. 6.
It also wanted access to Mr. Trump’s Twitter messages.
The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for Washington, D.C., sided with the committee and Department of Justice in turning over the documents and records to Congress for review.
It would have taken four justices to vote to review the lower court ruling and hear Mr. Trump’s appeal.
A lawyer representing Mr. Trump did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, California Democrat, said the Supreme Court’s move makes it clear “no one is above the law.”
“The Court’s decision is a victory for the truth, for the rule of law and for the American people,” she said. “Reviewing these documents is essential to gaining a full picture of the events leading up to, during and after the January 6th attack on our Democracy. Now that the Court has ended the former president’s unlawful and dangerous campaign to hide the truth from the American people, the House’s Select Committee to Investigate January 6th will continue its laser focus on finding the truth of that dark day and ensuring it never happens again.”
• Alex Swoyer can be reached at aswoyer@washingtontimes.com.
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