Judge Denies Trump’s Bid to Freeze Riot Records Ruling

(Bloomberg) -- Donald Trump’s presidential diaries, call logs and other records must be given to a U.S. House panel investigating the Capitol riot, a federal judge ruled, rejecting the former president’s latest request to block their release pending his appeal.

U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan on Wednesday denied Trump’s request that she put on hold an order she issued Tuesday night releasing the documents while the appeals court in Washington weighs the dispute.

“Plaintiff has not advanced any new facts or arguments that persuade the court to reconsider its November 9, 2021, order,” the judge wrote. “This court will not effectively ignore its own reasoning in denying injunctive relief in the first place to grant injunctive relief now.”

Trump filed a lawsuit in October to stop the National Archives from handing the documents over to Congress, invoking executive privilege. He filed his appeal of Chutkan’s Tuesday ruling in favor of Congress shortly after the judge issued it. The National Archives is set to release the documents Friday, unless a court orders it not to.

The House committee, which is made up of seven Democrats and two Republicans, began investigating the assault on the Capitol over the summer. In addition to seeking records from the White House, the panel has subpoenaed documents and testimony from former Trump advisers, including political strategist Steve Bannon and former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows.

Executive privilege allows the president to keep certain records confidential, but it’s usually reserved for the current occupant of the White House. President Joe Biden, a Democrat, has waived it in this case. Lawyers for Trump, a Republican, argue that a former president should maintain some ability to invoke it. The insurrection at the Capitol was staged to overturn Biden’s election.

In denying Trump’s effort to stop the National Archives from giving Congress the documents, Chutkan said on Tuesday that the “public interest lies in permitting -- not enjoining -- the combined will of the legislative and executive branches to study the events that led to and occurred on Jan. 6.”

Of his claim of executive privilege, she said it “exists to protect the executive branch, not an individual” and that “the incumbent President -- not a former President -- is best positioned to evaluate the long-term interests of the executive branch.”

“Presidents are not kings,” she said, “and plaintiff is not president.”

The case is Trump v. Thompson, 21-cv-02769, U.S. District Court, District of Columbia (Washington).

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