Light will be shed on the role of Donald Trump in the assault on the Capitol. The Supreme Court paved the way, Wednesday, January 19, for the transfer of documents related to the actions of the former President of the United States to the parliamentary commission of inquiry into the events of January 6, 2021.
The highest court in the United States rejected, by a majority of eight judges out of nine, the real estate magnate’s attempt to keep the White House archives confidential in a short judgment, which does not explain his motivations .
These hundreds of pages of documents include, among other things, the lists of people who visited him or called him on January 6, 2021, as well as notes taken during these exchanges.
The Supreme Court’s decision represents a significant victory for the “special committee” of the House of Representatives, which is engaged in a veritable judicial guerrilla war with the former president and his relatives.
The members of the commission, mostly Democrats, seek to determine the role of the Republican billionaire in the attack of thousands of his supporters on the seat of Congress, when elected officials certified the victory of his Democratic opponent, Joe Biden, in the presidential.
They are racing against time as they desperately want to publish their findings before the midterm legislative elections, in less than a year, during which the Republicans could regain control of the House and bury their work.
“Presidents are not kings”
Lawyers for the former president, advisers, ex-chief of staff, spokespersons… For months, the commission has been multiplying summonses to appear in his entourage, without success so far. Among the last summoned is the former mayor of New York Rudy Giuliani, a faithful among the faithful of Donald Trump, who had supported him in his post-election crusade.
Donald Trump, who remains central in his camp and does not rule out running for president in 2024, denounces a “political game” and attempts to block the commission’s efforts.
To do this, it notably invoked a prerogative of the executive power which makes it possible to protect the confidentiality of communications between its members. For him, it even applies to former presidents.
The federal courts, however, rejected his requests, pointing out that the current executive branch had waived the use of this prerogative and authorized the transmission of its archives to Congress.
“Presidents are not kings and the plaintiff is not president”, had in particular judged the magistrate Tanya Chutkan in the decision of first instance, then confirmed on appeal.
The Trump Organization in turmoil
The Supreme Court, which nevertheless has three out of nine magistrates appointed by Donald Trump, validated these judgments. Only the conservative judge Clarence Thomas let it be known that he would have given him satisfaction.
In a separate court filing, the former president also saw darkening skies. On Tuesday evening, the New York State Attorney General announced that “uncovering the evidence” tax practices “fraudulent” au sein de la Trump Organization.
In a document of more than a hundred pages, Letitia James accuses her, as well as two of her children, of having misvalued some of their assets to draw a “economic advantage”. According to her, he would have underestimated goods with the taxman to pay less taxes and would have on the contrary overvalued them with the banks to obtain loans.
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