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Story · December 13, 2021

Trump’s Jan. 6 records fight took a hit before this edition date

By The Daily Fuckup Newsroom · From the December 13, 2021 edition

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Correction: An earlier federal appeals court ruling on Dec. 9 allowed the National Archives to release the records sought by the Jan. 6 committee; Trump later took the fight to the Supreme Court.

Former President Donald Trump’s fight to keep White House records away from the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack had already taken a major hit by the time this edition was dated. On Dec. 9, 2021, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit rejected his bid to stop the National Archives from turning over the documents, leaving the former president with a narrower path to keep the material sealed. citeturn0search1turn0search2

The dispute centered on records from the final stretch of the Trump White House that the committee said were relevant to its investigation. The archives described the request as covering presidential records tied to Jan. 6 and said President Joe Biden had decided not to assert executive privilege over them. That position undercut Trump’s argument that he could block disclosure on his own after leaving office. citeturn0search0turn0search1

The appellate ruling did not end the broader fight, but it did put the former president on the defensive. Trump was still pursuing the claim in court, and later in the month he asked the Supreme Court to intervene. For the moment, though, the legal momentum was with the committee and the archives, not with the man trying to keep the papers behind a privilege wall. citeturn0search0turn0search2

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