Judge Rejects Trump Attempt To Block Documents From Jan. 6 Probe

The twice-impeached ex-president who never won a popular vote has gone to great lengths to hide evidence of of his shady dealings. Considering Trump claims innocence, his desire to keep everything hidden indicates guilt.

BREAKING: U.S. judge rules that the congressional committee probing the Jan. 6 Capitol attack can access some of Trump's White House records, rejecting an argument by his lawyers that telephone records, visitor logs, and other documents should be hidden https://t.co/Rx07YONARN pic.twitter.com/8NUvhDeLcH

— Reuters (@Reuters) November 9, 2021

In every instance, Trump has blocked the release of information to investigators by invoking executive privilege, including in instances where he was not yet president or when he was in talks with people who did not work for the executive branch at the time. His attempts to hide his activities around January 6th, however, do not appear to be blocking a federal judge from determining that the investigative committee in Congress should be barred from having access to evidence.

According to Reuters:

‘Trump had argued that the materials requested by the House of Representatives committee were covered by a legal doctrine known as executive privilege that protects the confidentiality of some White House communications…

‘Trump gave an incendiary speech before the assault on the Capitol, repeating his false claims that the November 2020 election was stolen from him through widespread voting fraud and urging his supporters to go to the Capitol and “fight like hell” to “stop the steal.”‘

Former President Donald Trump's latest procedural attempt to keep secret documents from his presidency about the January 6 insurrection quickly failed overnight, after the judge denied a request for an emergency injunction. https://t.co/e5Eu94irLb

— CNN (@CNN) November 9, 2021

Trump’s attempt to subvert a ruling on the legality of a previous judge’s order that the National Archives could legally turn over information related to the January 6 investigation was quickly shut down by the judge, who said that she planned to rule without interference and quickly in order to meet the deadline set by the commission to turn over the records.

CNN reports that:

The checks for the Trump campaign’s “command center” were reportedly cut after some nudging from one of Trump’s biggest Fox News supporters. https://t.co/H1UquxbM3O

— VANITY FAIR (@VanityFair) November 9, 2021

Oddly and hilariously enough, it was Judge Jeanine Pirro who may have put the biggest dent in Trump’s executive privilege claims. Rudy Giuliani and former New York City police chief Bernard Kerik had been leading the “investigation” into “voter fraud” that they publicly claimed cheated Trump out of a second term, but they had done so with no funding, using their own resources to fly around the country making their false claims. The Fox News “judge” Jeanine Pirro acted on their behalf by asking the Trump campaign to fund them, connecting Trump to the “investigation” and ending the executive privilege claim since Trump was involved with outside groups in the insurrection they helped inspire.

Vanity Fair reports that:

‘President Donald Trump’s campaign had turned down Kerik’s request for a campaign credit card. The bills were piling up. The bills went unpaid until after Fox News personality Jeanine Pirro went to bat on their behalf…The fact that campaign funds were used to finance efforts to subvert Biden’s victory could complicate the former president’s ongoing attempt to use claims of executive privilege to shield documents and testimony from the congressional committee investigating January 6, according to some legal scholars.’

Williamson may have knowledge about Trump’s involvement in Jan. 6 that could not be covered by executive privilege.

As a top Meadows aide, he may have been told about plans to stop the recertification that he may be able to share with the panel. https://t.co/6WZGh2wCGw

— Axios (@axios) November 9, 2021