A court file, released on Saturday, revealed details of documents related to the assault on Capitol Hill that former US President Donald Trump, who has sued, seeks to keep secret.
The billionaire has taken legal action to block the release of White House documents relating to his supporters’ attack on the seat of Congress on January 6, to obstruct the parliamentary committee investigating his role. Donald Trump invoked the right of the executive to keep certain information secret.
Among the hundreds of pages of documents he does not want to reveal is the daily White House agenda, which lists the president’s actions, such as his meetings or phone calls, according to John Laster, head of presidential documents. at the National Archives, cited in the judicial file.
The list also includes the documents of several of his collaborators, like the former spokesperson Kayleigh McEnany, the adviser Stephen Miller or Mark Meadows, his last chief of staff and one of the people to whom the ex-president asked. to ignore subpoenas to appear before the commission of inquiry.
US elected officials spoke out last week in favor of prosecuting another close ally of Donald Trump, Steve Bannon, who refused to participate in these investigations.
According to the court file, Donald Trump also seeks to keep in the shadows “draft speeches, remarks and exchanges”, “handwritten notes” concerning January 6, or a memo on a “potential trial” against several States won by Joe Biden in the November 2020 presidential election.
On January 6, thousands of supporters of the Republican president stormed the seat of the US Parliament, in an attempt to block Democrat Joe Biden’s electoral victory.
Earlier in the day, Donald Trump gave a speech to a crowd a few hundred yards away, arguing – without merit – that the election had been stolen from him.
The parliamentary commission of inquiry is seeking testimony from officials who could discuss what the president knew about the assault before it happened, and what he did when the event occurred.
The process Donald Trump has taken to keep these documents secret is expected to trigger a test of strength in the courts that may well test the constitutional authority of Congress to review the actions of the executive branch of power.