Trump loses again as US district judge denies his emergency request to block records from January 6 committee
- Donald Trump asked a US judge to block the January 6 committee from obtaining White House records.
- Judge Tanya S. Chutkan denied the request and said the documents were of interest to the public.
US District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan denied former President Donald Trump's emergency request to block House investigators from obtaining White House records including his daily presidential diaries, activity logs, and call logs related to January 6.
On Tuesday morning, Chutkan denied an unusual emergency motion filed Monday night by Trump's attorneys asking her to stay her ruling - which she had not made yet - until he could appeal the case. Chutkan issued her ruling later in the day and denied Trump's motion to block the records.
"Plaintiff is unlikely to succeed on the merits of his claims or suffer irreparable harm, and because a balance of the equities and public interest bear against granting his requested relief," Chutkan wrote in her decision.
The Biden administration declined a request from Trump's legal team in October asking President Joe Biden to assert executive privilege over the files. Still, Trump argued to the court that future presidents would suffer "sustainable injury and irreparable harm" if the documents were disclosed, chilling presidential aides' willingness to give advice.
Chutkan rebuffed Trump's argument, citing past presidents' waiving executive privilege when dealing with "matters of grave public importance," such as Watergate, Iran-Contra, and 9/11. She also said Biden as president was in the best position to evaluate the effects the documents' disclosure would have on the executive branch, according to her decision.
In light of Chutkan's decision, the National Archives and Records Administration on Friday is set to give the House select committee investigating the Capitol riot more than 1,600 pages of documents it requested. The files are expected to include pages from the binders of the former press secretary Kayleigh McEnany and a draft text of Trump's speech for his January 6 rally in Washington, DC.