Dec. 31 (UPI) — The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 riots at the U.S. Capitol asked the Supreme Court on Thursday to reject former President Donald Trump‘s request to block the release of records from his administration.
In a court filing, the committee cited an appeals court ruling that stated Trump had given “no legal reason” to override President Joe Biden‘s decision to deny executive privilege to protect the records.
“Although the facts are unprecedented, this case is not a difficult one,” the filing states. “[Trump] attempts to overturn the current president’s reasonable determination that the select committee is entitled to three tranches of presidential records responsive to its request.”
In his appeal to the Supreme Court, Trump’s lawyers said allowing the release of the records would set a harmful precedent for disputes over access to former presidents’ confidential records in the future and that the case posed “novel and important questions of law that the court should resolve.”
The House committee on Thursday rejected that the case was the appropriate venue to weigh any such issues.
“To the extent any novel questions linger in the background, this case would be a poor vehicle to address them. This court’s review is unwarranted, and [Trump’s] petition … should be denied,” the filing states.
Additionally, the committee said if the court must hear the case it should be conducted on an expedited basis as it “urgently needs the documents” to conduct its upcoming hearings and reports.
The 700 pages of documents at the center of the case include phone call logs, visitor logs, drafts of speeches, memos and handwritten notes which the House panel has said are necessary to properly carry out the investigation and determine what Trump knew before, during and after the attack.
On Tuesday, the committee agreed to defer its request for some documents that the Biden administration said do not apply to the investigation and should remain protected.
Also this week, six former executive branch lawyers filed an amicus brief rejecting Trump’s claims of executive privilege in keeping the documents out of the lawmakers’ hands.
