United States: Trump Files Lawsuit to Keep Documents Regarding Capitol Storming Secret | International

Former President Donald Trump has filed a lawsuit in a federal court in Washington against the Committee of the House of Representatives, which is in charge of the investigation of the assault on the Capitol so that certain documents related to that attack are not made public. The complaint also reaches the National Archives, an institution that keeps the writings that are considered historical.

Joe Biden’s White House rejected more than a week ago that the documents requested by the Committee be kept under the rubric of the executive privilege granted to leaders on certain issues and gave the green light to the National Archives to deliver the papers ( about 40 files) to congressmen investigating what happened on January 6. One of the arguments Trump uses to invoke secrecy is that making those documents public could endanger the security of the United States.

“In a political ploy to satisfy his party allies, President Biden has refused to exercise executive privilege [el derecho del presidente a mantener la confidencialidad de algunos datos] on several clearly privileged documents requested by the Committee ”, reads the document presented by Trump’s lawyers before the judge. The ex-president insists that the only thing that the committee seeks with the requirement of publication of those papers is to harass him and those who worked in his Administration.

As stated in the lawsuit filed on Monday, the request of the Congressional Committee seeks to “unconstitutionally investigate President Trump and his government.” “Our laws must not allow such heinous and impulsive action against a former president and his close advisers,” the document added. The mogul likens the committee’s request to a “vexatious and illegal fishing expedition backed” by Biden.

At the end of September, four of the men most loyal to Donald Trump were called to testify before the legislative committee launched by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi. The Chief of Staff, Mark Meadows; the White House digital strategist, Daniel Scavino; the Pentagon’s chief adviser, Kashyap Patel; and influential adviser Steve Bannon are due to testify before the commission of 11 Democrats and two Republicans. Trump then let it be known that he would not accept the subpoenas and that he would advise his advisers to argue the privilege that affects those who have been part of the White House to keep communications and discussions with their boss secret. All appearances have been postponed except for Bannon, who has refused to appear before the committee.

It was this summer that the majority Democratic commission requested a series of documents from seven federal agencies to investigate the attack on Congress by a mob of Trump supporters with the aim of blocking the appointment of Joe Biden as president. The committee members also gather information about the organization and financing of Trump rallies where it was mentioned blocking or slowing down the transfer of power to the Democrat.

The commission asked the National Archives for all White House documents that refer to “a stolen election, theft of the election, or a ‘rigged’ election.” They also requested information from the FBI, the Pentagon, the Department of Homeland Security, the Interior and Justice, among other federal agencies. Lawmakers are looking for material “related to intelligence collected before January 6 on events that could occur that day.”

On January 6, five people died and about 140 agents were attacked. So far, some 550 people have been indicted on charges related to the assault on the Capitol, including 165 people charged with crimes of assault on authority.

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