In a last-ditch effort to prevent the release of White House records related to the Capitol attack, former President Donald Trump has filed a lawsuit against the Jan. 6 select committee and the National Archives, Politico reported Monday.
In a 26-page lawsuit filed in D.C. district court on Monday, Trump’s lawyers asked a federal judge “to invalidate the entire request from the select committee, to block the Archives from turning over any materials to Congress in response to the request, and to specifically block the Archives from turning over any documents that Trump says are covered by executive privilege,” according to Politico.
In his suit, Trump declared the committee’s investigation “a vexatious, illegal fishing expedition.” It names the Jan. 6 panel’s chair, Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), and the national archivist, David Ferriero, along with the committee and the archives themselves.”
Trump’s legal team claims that the Jan. 6 panel’s push for voluminous records from his administration — such as his internal communications with lawyers, campaign operatives and senior officials — “would shatter the notion of executive privilege. In their suit, Trump’s lawyers ask a federal judge to invalidate the entire request from the select committee, to block the Archives from turning over any materials to Congress in response to the request, and to specifically block the Archives from turning over any documents that Trump says are covered by executive privilege.”
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Trump’s team is also asking for the court to have the Archives first identify all documents from Trump’s White House that could be responsive to the request, then let Trump’s lawyers fully review them before sharing them with Congress. As noted by Politico, that process could take years.
Read more at Politico.
