A federal appeals court on Thursday rejected a bid by former President Donald Trump to stop the January 6 select committee from obtaining executive branch documents.
The National Archives and Records Administration was authorized to turn over the materials to Congress after the Biden White House declined to do the same.
A federal judge last month rejected Trump's privilege claims, saying that while the former president has the right to assert privilege, President Joe Biden is not required to honor it.
The lower court's ruling was affirmed by the Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington, DC.
At the founding, Benjamin Franklin said that if we can keep it, we have a Republic. The events of January 6th exposed the fragility of democratic institutions and traditions that we have come to take for granted.
Both the incumbent president and Congress decided that access to this subset of presidential communication records was necessary to address a matter of great constitutional moment for the Republic.
The ruling said that the court had no reason to cast aside President Biden's assessment of the Executive Branch interests at stake or to create a separation of powers conflict.
The case is unique and extraordinary, and Congress is examining an assault on our Constitution and democratic institutions provoked and fanned by those sworn to protect them, and the conduct under investigation extends far beyond typical deliberations concerning the proper discharge of the President's constitutional rights.
The ruling said that the executive privilege should not be used to shield Congress or the public from information that shows a clear and apparent effort to subvert the Constitution.
The appeals court panel questioned Trump's lawyers' suggestion that he has the right to dictate which documents Congress gets in connection to the Capitol riot probe.
At the hearing, Millett said that we have one president at a time. The Supreme Court has told us that the incumbent president is best positioned to make a decision about the interests of the executive branch.
The lawyer for Congress rejected Trump's claim that the dispute over the documents involves two branches of government.
There is no fight between the branches. The president made a decision that he explained about the important interests of the American people in having the select committee get to the truth here, according to Douglas Letter. There is no separation-of-powers claim that a former president can make.
The story is evolving. You can check back for updates.
