Well, choke one up for the anti-Trump January 6th witchhunt committee.
With President Joe Biden’s collapsing poll numbers bringing down the Democrat’s chances of keeping the Congress in the 2022 mid-term elections next November, their ability to get access to Mr. Trump’s records will surely cause accusations to flood off Capitol Hill, eventually leading to calls to block former President Trump from running again.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled against former President Donald Trump refusing to block the National Archives from sharing documents from his time in the White House with the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
The high court’s decision came as a one-paragraph order and was unsigned. Justice Clarence Thomas, nominated by former President Ronald Reagan, was the lone justice signaling that he would have granted Trump’s request, which is based on the argument that the records are protected by executive privilege. President Joe Biden has supported their release.
“Because the Court of Appeals concluded that President Trump’s claims would have failed even if he were the incumbent, his status as a former President necessarily made no difference to the court’s decision,” the Supreme Court order said.
The decision is a rejection of Trump’s pending appeal in the case aimed at keeping the documents sealed and means that more than 700 pages of documents pertaining to emails, call logs, and other information requests are subject to the House Jan. 6 Committee’s review of the Capitol riot.
The committee has begun to receive records Trump wanted kept secret, said Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., and Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., the committee chairman and vice chairwoman, respectively.
“The Supreme Court’s action tonight is a victory for the rule of law and American democracy,” Thompson and Cheney said in a statement pledging to “uncover all the facts about the violence of January 6th and its causes.”
The House committee agreed to defer its attempt to get some documents, at the request of the Biden White House. The current administration was concerned that releasing all of the Trump administration documents sought by the committee could compromise national security and executive privilege.
Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who was nominated by Trump, agreed with the majority ruling but wrote a series of separate paragraphs expressing disagreement with the U.S. Court of Appeals for siding with a lower court’s ruling rejecting Trump’s bid, filed in October, to keep presidential records away from the Jan. 6 committee. The appeals court held that Trump “has provided no basis for this court to override President Biden’s judgment and the agreement and accommodations worked out between the Political Branches over these documents.”
Kavanaugh wrote that he “respectfully” disagreed with the appeals court on its ruling. “A former president must be able to successfully invoke the Presidential communications privilege for communications that occurred during his Presidency even if the current President does not support the privilege claim,” he said.
These are the documents the Supreme Court says the House Select Committee now can have access to. pic.twitter.com/bRu8HRyVRy
— Katelyn Polantz (@kpolantz) January 20, 2022
The decision comes just hours after attorneys for the former president filed a brief to the Supreme Court claiming that the legal fight to conceal presidential records would not hinder its work investigating the Capitol riot.
“Respondents will not be harmed by delay,” Trump attorneys wrote in reference to the House panel. “Despite their insistence that the investigation is urgent, more than a year has passed since January 6, 2021. Years remain before the next transition of power.”
Pandora’s box has been partially opened today. Conservatives stand by for flat-out deceptive and intense media attacks, hitting record levels, to blast Trump and anyone who loves America.
Written By: Eric Thompson, host of the Eric Thompson Show.
Follow Eric on his website ETTALKSHOW, and social media platforms, MAGABOOK, Twellit & Twitter.
This story syndicated with permission from Eric Thompson – Trending Politics
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