US Supreme Court Rejects Trump Attempt To Shield Jan. 6 Records

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The U.S. Supreme Court has formally rejected a bid by former President Donald Trump to shield certain records from his administration from the House committee investigating the Capitol riot. The court had already declined to take emergency action to block the records from being given to the committee by the National Archives, and items had afterwards been given to investigators, so the court’s formal rejection of Trump’s appeal — which in this case constitutes a denial to hear the matter — lays out a final shutdown point for the ex-president’s legal ambition. Last month, after the Supreme Court’s initial denial of Trump’s hope for emergency action to stop the documents from being handed over, committee leaders stated in part as follows:

‘The Supreme Court’s action tonight is a victory for the rule of law & American democracy… Our work goes forward to uncover all the facts about the violence of January 6th and its causes. We will not be deterred in our effort to get answers, make legislative recommendations to strengthen our democracy, and help ensure nothing like that day ever happens again.’

Screenshot-2022-02-22-11.24.46-AM US Supreme Court Rejects Trump Attempt To Shield Jan. 6 Records Corruption Donald Trump Politics Top Stories

The Supreme Court’s rejection of Trump’s appeal of a lower court ruling allowing for the records to be handed over did not come with any comment from the Justices, and it wasn’t attributed to any Justice or Justices in particular. Records that the riot panel has already obtained include a draft copy of an executive order outlining a plan for the Defense Department to seize voting machines and other election items from across the country for the purpose of a sham investigation into debunked claims of widespread fraud. For the Defense Department to essentially take over the continuance of the electoral process in the United States would’ve been, of course, profoundly threatening to the foundation of democracy — that’s what’s at stake here. The order even included directions for an initial report on the probe to be completed in February of last year… after Trump was supposed to be out of the White House, suggesting that keeping him in office was essentially part of the plan.

The committee also received records that had been torn up by the former president himself, adding to the serious concerns around the handling of government records by Trump and his administration. A federal law called the Presidential Records Act demands that a vast array of records from presidential administrations be preserved and given to the National Archives. Besides the document destruction worries, the Trump team also transported at least well over a dozen boxes of presidential records out of D.C. following Trump’s departure from the White House, and the Archives has confirmed that classified material was uncovered in those boxes, which have since been recovered by federal officials. Accordingly, the head of the Archives has confirmed that the agency has been in touch with the Justice Department regarding the issue.