The roadblock that Donald Trump is trying to build to slow down the progress of the parliamentary inquiry into the assault on the Capitol on January 6 by his supporters may well be giving way. An American court authorized, Tuesday, November 9, the transmission to Congress of documents related to this historic attack.
“The court maintains that the public interest demands a favorable response to the joint wishes of the legislative and executive branches to study the events leading up to January 6”, wrote federal judge Tanya Chutkan in her decision, which was broadcast by several American media.
Donald Trump wanted in particular to prevent the dissemination to the House of Representatives committee of inquiry, an assembly controlled by the Democrats, of hundreds of documents including the lists of people who visited him or called him on the day of the attack on Capitol.
The more than 770 pages of documents include the files of his former chief of staff Mark Meadows, his former senior adviser Stephen Miller and his former deputy adviser Patrick Philbin. Mr Trump also hoped to block the publication of the White House daily newspaper – an account of his activities, trips, briefings and phone calls.
Other documents the former president does not want Congress to see include memos to his former press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, a handwritten note on the events of January 6, as well as a draft text from his speech at the “Save America” rally, which preceded the attack.
The Republican billionaire had notably invoked the right of the executive to keep certain information secret. “Presidents are not kings and the plaintiff is not president”, however slapped Judge Chutkan in the court document. Donald Trump’s lawyers have already expressed their wish to appeal the ruling, the government reported. Washington post.
New round of assignments
Judge Chutkan’s announcement comes when the parliamentary commission investigating the assault on Congress launched a new round of subpoenas on Tuesday for relatives of the former president. Among those targeted is Kayleigh McEnany, the former spokesperson at the White House during the last year of the Republican billionaire’s mandate.
“As a White House spokesperson you have made numerous public statements in the White House and elsewhere regarding alleged fraud in the November 2020 election, [des allégations] which the people who attacked the Capitol on January 6 echoed “, states the commission in the subpoena against Mr.me McEnany.
Only 31 years old when she took office on April 7, 2020, Mme McEnany, a graduate of the prestigious Harvard Law School, has always been seen as a determined advocate of Trumpism. In February 2020, while the president downplayed the threat posed by Covid-19, she assured the conservative Fox News channel: ” This president will always put America first. He will always protect American citizens. We won’t see diseases like the coronavirus coming here. “
More than 150 people already interviewed
A close advisor to Donald Trump, Stephen Miller was also subpoenaed for having prepared with his team the speech given by the Republican billionaire at the January 6 rally which took place near the White House, shortly before the attack. of Congress, and who argued – unfounded – that the election had been stolen from him.
Other relatives of Mr Trump featured in this new round of summons include Nicholas Luna, assistant to the former president, Christopher Liddell, the former deputy chief of staff at the White House, and Keith Kellogg, former national security adviser to then Vice President Mike Pence.
“We believe that the witnesses subpoenaed today have relevant information and we expect them to cooperate in the investigation”, said the chairman of the commission, the elected Democrat Bennie Thompson.
The parliamentary committee announced on Monday other summons, in particular members of Donald Trump’s campaign team such as Michael Flynn, the former national security adviser to the former Republican president, or his former director campaign campaign Bill Stepien. As part of this investigation, the commission has already interviewed more than 150 people, according to Republican elected representative Liz Cheney.