Key takeaways:
- Former U.S. President Donald Trump’s lawyers will attempt to persuade a federal appeals court that Congress should not gather call logs.
- Given the issue’s importance, either side is likely to file an appeal with the United States Supreme Court.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump’s lawyers will try to persuade a federal appeals court to prevent Congress from collecting call logs, draught speeches, and other information linked to his supporters’ Jan. 6 insurgency at the U.S. Capitol.
The District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals will hear arguments Tuesday from lawyers representing Trump and the House committee requesting the information as part of its inquiry into the disturbance.
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Trump’s attorneys request that the court overturn a federal judge’s decision enabling the National Archives and Records Administration to release the records after U.S. President Joe Biden waived executive privilege.
Judge Tanya Chutkan dismissed Trump’s assertions that he might use executive privilege to override Biden, stating, in part, that “Presidents are not kings, and Plaintiff is not the president.” Following Chutkan’s ruling, the appeals court imposed an administrative stay to consider the case.
Democratic presidents have selected all three judges who will hear arguments on Tuesday. President Barack Obama nominated Patricia Millett and Robert Wilkins, and Vice President Joe Biden appointed Ketanji Brown Jackson.
Given the issue’s importance, either side is likely to file an appeal with the United States Supreme Court.
In their appeal to the circuit court, Trump’s lawyers stated that they agreed with Chutkan that presidents were not kings. “True, but in the same way, Congress is not Parliament – a legislative body with supreme and unlimited constitutional control over government operations,” they said.
Trump has claimed that documents of his Jan. 6 deliberations must be withheld to maintain executive privilege for future presidents and that the Democrat-led House is largely motivated by politics. The United States House Committee lawyers rejected those claims, calling Trump’s attempts to invoke executive privilege “unusual and gravely problematic.”
“It is impossible to envision an essential issue for Congressional study, and Mr. Trump’s arguments cannot outweigh Congress’s urgent need,” the committee’s lawyers stated.
Source: CTV News
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