Donald Trump’s legal team has argued in US District Court that records from his presidency demanded by a congressional panel investigating the attacks on the US Capitol by his supporters should not be released.
The former president’s attorneys claimed in federal court on 4 November that the documents, which have been requested by the select committee investigating the insurrection, are covered by executive privilege, a claim the Biden administration has dismissed.
Mr Trump’s attorneys have argued the request from lawmakers is “alarmingly broad” – but a judge appears skeptical.
US District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan told his legal team to “dial down the rhetoric” after they characterised the requests from House lawmakers as “unbelievably broad” and a “dump” as she questioned what harm their release would bring to Mr Trump, and why they believe his lawsuit doesn’t undermine President Joe Biden’s own executive function.
Douglas Letter, counsel for the House of Representatives, said the committee’s probe into the events surrounding the 6 January attack on the US Capitol by Mr Trump’s supporters in an attempt to overturn election results marks “one of the most important congressional investigations in the history of our nation that has ever occurred.”
The court hearing arrived on the “anniversary” of the 2020 presidential election, which Mr Trump marked with a bizarre video amplifying his baseless narrative that the results were fraudulent and thanking those involved in a spurious election “audit” in Arizona.
Meanwhile, a key figure in the saga of the Trump campaign’s alleged collusion with Russian government counterparts in 2016 has been arrested by federal authorities for allegedly lying to the FBI.
Igor Danchenko was a core researcher in the production of Christopher Steele’s notorious dossier on Mr Trump’s Russian ties, much of which turned out to be based on unproven rumours and unsubstantiated claims.
He is set to appear in federal court on Thursday afternoon.
