January 6 riot probe gets over 700 pages of Trump White House documents after Supreme Court ruling
- The select House committee investigating the January 6 Capitol riot has received more than 700 pages of Trump White House documents that it had sought for the past several months.
- The panel received the records from the National Archives less than two days after the Supreme Court refused a request from former President Donald Trump to block their release.
- President Joe Biden had refused to invoke executive privilege over the documents.
- A federal appeals court said that even if Trump was a sitting president he would not have the power to keep the House committee from getting the records via a subpoena.
The select House committee investigating the January 6 Capitol riot has received more than 700 pages of Trump White House documents that it had sought for several months, NBC News reported Friday.
The panel received those records from the National Archives less than two days after the Supreme Court refused a request from former President Donald Trump to block their release.
The House committee is investigating the days leading up to the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021, the events during it, and its aftermath.
The invasion of the halls of Congress by a mob of Trump supporters came after weeks of false claims by Trump that he had actually won the 2020 election, and that President Joe Biden's official victory was the result of widespread ballot fraud.
Trump had unsuccessfully argued in a lawsuit in lower federal courts that he was entitled to keep the documents secret under executive privilege, which in certain cases allows presidents to prevent Congress from obtaining executive branch records.
Biden had refused to invoke executive privilege over the documents.
A federal appeals court said that even if Trump was a sitting president, he would not have the power to keep the House committee from getting the records via a subpoena.
The Supreme Court noted that fact Wednesday when it refused to issue an injunction against the records being released to give Trump a chance to get the high court to take his appeal.