A U.S. appeals court rejected former President Donald Trump’s effort to block the National Archives from handing over his White House records to a House committee investigating the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol by a mob of his supporters.
The ruling Thursday by the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington held that Trump had provided “no basis” for overriding President Joe Biden’s decision to waive executive privilege over the documents and cooperate with the probe by the legislative branch.
Biden and House investigators reasonably concluded that access to a subset of presidential communication records “is necessary to address a matter of great constitutional moment for the Republic.”
“The events of January 6th exposed the fragility of those democratic institutions and traditions that we had perhaps come to take for granted,” the panel said. “Former President Trump has given this court no legal reason to cast aside President Biden’s assessment of the Executive Branch interests at stake.”
The panel cited Biden’s “carefully reasoned” explanation for his decision as well as “Congress’ uniquely vital interest in studying the January 6th attack on itself” and safeguard its operations.
The court said it also based its ruling on “Mr. Trump’s failure even to allege, let alone demonstrate, any particularized harm that would arise from disclosure.”
The ruling upholds a lower court’s decision that Trump had appealed.
