Trump petitions Supreme Court to prevent Jan 6 data release
Former US President Donald Trump seeks to prevent the release of documents regarding the January 6 attack on the Capitol.
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Former US President, Donald Trump (AFP/ Getty Images)
On Thursday, former US President Donald Trump sought the Supreme Court to prevent the release of records to the congressional committee investigating the attack on the Capitol on January 6.
Trump has urged the Supreme Court to overturn a verdict issued earlier this month by a federal appeals court that rejected his request to keep the records private.
He has been accused of inciting the attack on Congress and attempting to utilize his previous president's privilege to keep White House documents related to the event hidden.
However, the appeals court agreed with a previous court judgment that current President Joe Biden would waive executive privilege on the recordings in order for them to be turned over to the investigating committee.
Trump's attorneys argued in a 229-page filing that "a former President has the right to assert executive privilege, even after his term of office."
US Federal court rejects Trump's attempt to hide capitol records
As a former president, Trump attempted to use his executive privilege to hide the records, however, the US Federal court of appeals decided that the current president could override this privilege and have the documents reviewed by a Congressional panel to investigate Trump supporters' violence on the day.
The court of appeals detailed that "the right of a former president certainly enjoys no greater weight than that of the incumbent."
Trump’s son begged his father to stop the Capitol Riots
Text messages to then-White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows, reveal that Donald Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr., pleaded with his father to urge rioters at the Capitol on January 6 to evacuate the complex.
US lawmaker Liz Cheney, the vice-chair of the committee investigating if the former president had prior knowledge of the riot, disclosed some of the text messages.
Donald Trump's former aide, Mark Meadows, is sought after by US lawmakers for refusing to testify for the Capitol Riot assaults.
In a statement, the January 6 committee blamed Meadows for this fate: "We've given Mark Meadows every opportunity to cooperate. He's brought this situation on himself."
