Former President Donald Trump suffered another devastating loss in court on Wednesday evening after a federal judge declined to delay a Friday deadline for the National Archives to begin handing over Trump administration documents to the House Select Jan 6 Committee.
Trump had asked for a stay after U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan rejected his lawsuit seeking to block the documents from being released while he appeals.
As CNN reports, however, Chutkan issued a six-page ruling rejecting Trump’s request for a temporary stay, citing the same reasons that she ruled on Tuesday against blocking the documents from being handed over.
“In his renewed motion, despite the fact that he requests essentially the same relief as in his original preliminary injunction motion, Plaintiff has not advanced any new facts or arguments that persuade the court to reconsider its November 9, 2021, Order,” Chutkan said in her decision according to CNN.
“The court’s analysis previously rejecting Plaintiff’s requested relief is thus equally applicable here: Plaintiff is unlikely to succeed on the merits of his claims or suffer irreparable harm, and a balance of the equities and public interest bear against granting his requested relief,” she added.
Chutkan’s decision will likely mean that Trump’s legal team will have to scramble ahead of Friday’s deadline to get an emergency stay from the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. If that fails, Trump will have to ask the Supreme Court to take action.