Nov. 11 (UPI) — A federal judge has again rejected former President Donald Trump‘s attempt to shield a slew of White House documents from a select committee investigating the Jan. 6 siege of the Capitol building by thousands of his supporters.
It is the third time in two days U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan has denied the former president’s litigation efforts to bar the National Archives and Records Administration from giving documents to the Jan. 6 select committee investigating causes of the attack to stop Congress from certifying Joe Biden as the 46th president of the United States.
The White House and Biden have previously weighed in on the matter, saying executive privilege powers will not be used to deny the records — which include written communications, calendar entries, videos and other media relating to the Trump administration and the Jan. 6 attack — from the committee, which are to be handed over on Friday.
Chutkan rejected Trump’s request for a preliminary relief on Tuesday, saying it is in the public’s interest to understand what occurred in Washington, D.C., and that Biden, as the sitting president, was better positioned than the former president to determine what is and isn’t protected by executive privilege.
Then on Wednesday, she rejected Trump’s renewed attempt for the same relief, stating in a 6-page decision that he has not offered any new facts or arguments to persuade her to reconsider her previous ruling.
She said Trump is unlikely to succeed on the merits of his claims nor will he suffer irreparable harm while “a balance of the equities and public interest” bear against granting his request.
“Were the court to grant Plaintiff’s motion, the effect would be ‘to give [Plaintiff] the fruits of victory whether or not the appeal has merit,'” she wrote. “This court will not effectively ignore its own reasoning in denying inductive relief in the first place to grant injustice relief now.”
The committee on Wednesday wrote it requires the documents as to hasten its investigation into the siege that resulted in the deaths of five people and more than 140 law enforcement officers injured.
“The potential harm to the public is immense: Our democratic institutions and a core feature of our democracy — the peaceful transfer of power — are at stake,” the committee said, according to CNN. “Any delay will seriously hinder the Select Committee’s ability to timely complete a comprehensive investigation and recommend effective remedial legislation.”
