A court on Thursday authorized the transfer to Congress of documents that could implicate Donald Trump in the January 6 attack on the Capitol, a setback for the former president who does not intend to stop there.
It’s the second legal setback in a row for the former president. The three judges of the court of appeal confirm the decision taken at first instance. Donald Trump does not have the power to block documents of interest to the House of Representatives special committee, reports our correspondent in Washington, Guillaume Naudin.
The billionaire asserts that it is his prerogative in the name of the privilege of the executive. According to the judges, this executive privilege does not belong to the former presidents, but to the current president. And Joe Biden has indicated his intention to forward those 800-plus pages of documents, visitor logs, emails, draft speeches and notes. Rightly so according to the judges who explain that secrecy is not in the national interest given the gravity of what happened on January 6.
This decision paves the way for the transmission of hundreds of pages of documents to a parliamentary committee responsible for shedding light on on the role of the former Republican president in this assault.
Two weeks to appeal
This does not mean that the documents will immediately be forwarded to the special committee. Donald Trump’s lawyers have two weeks to ask the Supreme Court for an urgent ruling. His judgment will be interesting legally, there is hardly any case law on the scope of executive privilege. But also politically. The Court has a conservative majority, and three of its members were appointed by Donald Trump.
The chairman of the commission, the elected Democrat Bennie Thompson, and his number 2 Republican Liz Cheney welcomed the court decision. ” We will come to the truth “, They said in a statement. Democratic Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi also welcomed the decision, saying that ” no one should be allowed to stand in the way of the truth “.