More discreet, Donald Trump has not disappeared from the political and judicial landscape of the United States. The former US president has taken legal action to block the disclosure of White House documents relating to the assault by his supporters on the Capitol, we learned in a court file made public Monday, October 18.
The billionaire invoked the executive’s right to keep certain information secret to prevent former aides from providing evidence to Congress, further escalation in the Republican tycoon’s campaign to block investigators looking into the deadly assault on the 6th. January.
The proceedings brought by Mr. Trump are expected to spark a showdown in the courts that may well test the constitutional authority of Congress to review the actions of the executive branch of power.
“Unconstitutionally Investigate” Trump
Thousands of supporters of the Republican president stormed the seat of the US Parliament on January 6, in an attempt to block Democrat Joe Biden’s electoral victory. Earlier today, Donald Trump gave a speech to a crowd a few hundred yards away, arguing without merit that the 2020 presidential election had been stolen from him.
“The commission’s request is nothing but a vexatious and illegal attempt to fish for information, openly supported by Biden and designed to unconstitutionally investigate President Trump and his administration.”, points out the complaint filed in a Washington court. Parliamentary investigators are seeking testimony from officials who could discuss what the president knew about the assault before it unfolded, and what he did when the event occurred.
Since the end of August, the National Archives has sent numerous official documents requested by investigators to the teams of Mr. Trump and President Biden, giving them thirty days to review them. In its case law, the Supreme Court has ruled that presidents have the right to keep certain documents and interviews confidential in order to ensure more frank discussions with their advisers.
Biden wants to allow disclosure
Donald Trump is far from the first American president to have used this privilege. No court has, however, said that the latter applied to former presidents. For now, current president Joe Biden has the final say on the case and has already claimed he would allow the disclosure of a first batch of documents, dismissing the objections of his predecessor.
Donald Trump’s complaint asks a federal judge to declare any request from the commission as inadmissible and to prevent the National Archives from sending any documents. The former president has already asked his key aides, from his last chief of staff Mark Meadows to his political strategy adviser Stephen Bannon, to ignore subpoenas to appear before the parliamentary commission of inquiry.