Donald Trump wants to prevent the investigation into the storming of the Capitol and is suing the release of archived documents. Which files are you talking about?
Washington – The processing of the attack on the US Capitol on January 6 is far from over. Only recently, the former US President Donald Trump complained that a committee of inquiry was evaluating archival documents from his term in office.
A court document published on Saturday (October 30th, 2021) now provides new information about which documents are actually involved. In total, there are more than 770 archive pages that Trump does not want to hand over to the House of Representatives, according to the news agency Agence France-Presse.
Committee of Inquiry into the Storming of the Capitol: Trump wants to keep records secret
According to the National Archives, the records include, among other things, records of senior officials from Trump: including his former chief of staff Mark Meadows, his former advisor Stephen Miller, and records from former vice legal advisor Patrick Philbin. Trump also wants to block the publication of the so-called Daily Diary of the White House – a record of his activities, trips, briefings and phone calls.
Other documents that Trump wants to withhold from the US Congress are memos to his former press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, a handwritten note on the events of January 6 and a draft of his speech at a rally before the storming of the Capitol.
After the US presidential election: Committee of Inquiry into Trump and the storming of the Capitol
After Joe Biden’s victory in the US presidential election, numerous radical Trump supporters stormed the Washington Capitol on January 6th. They wanted to protest against the certification of the election results. Five people were killed. Trump had previously held a rally in which he repeatedly spoke of electoral fraud and urged his supporters to march to the Capitol.
The House of Representatives then initiated impeachment proceedings against Trump. The two-thirds majority in the Senate, which is necessary for a conviction, was not achieved in the impeachment process. Last May, the House of Representatives voted on a committee of inquiry into the storming of the Capitol. However, the Republicans blocked the project. In June the Congress Chamber finally won a majority in favor of the establishment of a committee thanks to the votes of the Democrats.
USA: Donald Trump sues against the evaluation of archived documents
In his lawsuit against the surrender of the documents, Trump relies on the so-called executive privilege. This allows a president to keep certain documents secret. However, experts do not agree on whether the privilege also applies to a former president. The lawsuit could delay the work of the committee of inquiry by months – even if Trump’s legal defeat is considered likely. In addition to checking archival documents, former Trump employees are also to be interviewed for the investigation. Trump’s former adviser Steve Bannon, however, refuses to testify in court.
Trump has not recognized his electoral defeat against Biden to this day. The 75-year-old continues to make false claims that he was deprived of his office through electoral fraud. In public appearances, Trump repeatedly indicates that he wants to run again in the 2024 presidential election. He is still very popular with the Republican party base. (Anna Charlotte Groos with afp)
List of rubric lists: © Seth Wenig / dpa
