The plot thickens... getting closer to the truth!

Albuquerque NM

Description

A federal judge has rejected former President Donald Trump’s effort to block Jan. 6 investigators from accessing White House records related to his attempt to overturn the 2020 election, determining that he has no authority to overrule President Joe Biden’s decision to waive executive privilege and release the materials to Congress. “Presidents are not kings, and Plaintiff is not President,” Judge Tanya Chutkan wrote in her ruling. Trump immediately appealed the decision. The National Archives, which houses the White House records, has indicated it plans to hand over the sensitive documents by Friday afternoon unless a court intervenes. The decision is a crucial victory for the Jan. 6 committee in the House, albeit one that may ring hollow if an appeals court — or, potentially, the U.S. Supreme Court — steps in to slow the process down. The documents Trump is seeking to block from investigators include files drawn from former chief of staff Mark Meadows, adviser Stephen Miller and White House deputy counsel Patrick Philbin, as well as call and visitor logs. Committee investigators are hopeful these records will provide insight into Trump’s months-long campaign to stoke disinformation about the integrity of the 2020 election, as well as his effort to weaponize his administration after his defeat to attempt in order to overturn the vote. Chutkan began her ruling with a recitation of Trump’s months-long effort to sow distrust in the election results, as well as his attempt to call supporters to Washington to pressure lawmakers to refuse to certify his defeat to Joe Biden. Against that backdrop, thousands of Trump supporters descended on and breached the Capitol, with hundreds violently attacking police officers and forcing Congress and Vice President Mike Pence to flee for safety. Hundreds of rioters have since been arrested and charged for their role in the attack. The Jan. 6 committee is examining what responsibility Trump bears for inciting the insurrection and began its probe over the summer by asking the National Archives for massive tranches of documents from Trump’s White House. Under federal records law, the current president, Joe Biden, was presented with the documents sought by the committee. Biden declined to invoke executive privilege to shield them from the committee.