According to court documents filed late-night Friday, former President Trump is looking to block 770 pages of records from the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
The specific documents Trump is trying to keep secret are related to his efforts to overturn his loss of the 2020 election and include handwritten notes, draft documents and daily logs his top advisers kept related to January 6, said John Laster, who runs the National Archive’s White House Liaison Division, according to CNN.
The records include working papers from then-White House chief of Staff Mark Meadows, the press secretary and a White House lawyer who had notes and memos about Trump’s efforts to undermine the election. It also includes a draft of Trump’s speech for the Save American rally that preceded the riots, and a “daft Executive Order on the top of election integrity.”
CNN reported that Trump is also asserting privilege over a separate batch of 68 records, which include a draft for a potential lawsuit against states that President Biden won in 2020, and documents concerning the “security of the 2020 presidential election and ordering various actions.”
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In the filing, Trump argues that the committee has not demonstrated a legislative purpose for the documents that would override his assertion of executive privilege.
However, as noted by CNN, “the Biden White House has declined to keep information about the Trump White House leading up to January 6 private, citing the “extraordinary” Trump-led attempt to overturn the 2020 election and the ongoing bipartisan House investigation.” The news network added that the National Archives “has sided with President Joe Biden’s directions”
