The Daily Fuckup

By Nov. 25, 2021, Donald Trump’s challenge to the release of Jan. 6-related White House records was no longer a first-round courtroom fight. A federal judge in Washington had denied his bid for an injunction on Nov. 9, saying the records could move to the House committee, and the D.C. Circuit had already stepped in with a temporary stay on Nov. 11 while the appeal moved forward. Oral argument was set for Nov. 30. ([law.justia.com](https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/district-of-columbia/dcdce/1%3A2021cv02769/236632/35/))

That left Trump in a familiar position: asking courts to treat his executive-privilege claim as a barrier to disclosure even after the Biden White House declined to support it. In the district court ruling, Judge Tanya Chutkan wrote that the former president was unlikely to prevail because the incumbent president’s view carried greater weight under the Presidential Records Act framework. The National Archives page tracking the dispute shows the exchange of letters that followed, including Trump’s assertion of privilege on Nov. 15 and the White House counsel’s response on Nov. 19. ([law.justia.com](https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/district-of-columbia/dcdce/1%3A2021cv02769/236632/35/))

The practical effect was simple: the records fight had become a public appellate case, not a behind-the-scenes objection. That mattered because the dispute was about presidential papers tied to Jan. 6, a subject already under intense scrutiny by Congress and the courts. Trump’s team could still argue secrecy, but by late November the legal posture was clear: the records were not being quietly locked away, and the next major decision point was the appellate hearing scheduled for Nov. 30. ([law.justia.com](https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/cadc/21-5254/21-5254-2021-12-09.html))