Donald Trump cannot block the transmission to Congress of documents from the White House, which could implicate him in the January 6 attack on the Capitol, a federal court of appeal ruled on Thursday, December 9.
This decision paves the way for the transfer of hundreds of pages of documents to a parliamentary committee tasked with shedding light on the role of the former president in this assault.
The Court, however, left him fourteen days to appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States.
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The Republican billionaire wants to keep these archives secret, including among others the lists of people who visited him or called him that day, as claimed by a parliamentary commission in the hands of the Democrats. This "special committee" of the House of Representatives was set up to assess the role played by Donald Trump and his entourage in the attack led by his supporters on the seat of Congress, when elected officials certified Joe's victory. Biden in the presidential election. The former president, who denies any responsibility for the attack, denounces
"a political game"
and refuses to collaborate. He went to court in the name of a prerogative of the executive power to keep his communications confidential, even in the event of summons issued by Congress.
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After conflicting initial rulings, the appeals court ruled on Thursday that it had no reason to go against the ruling of current White House tenant Joe Biden, who cleared the Archives national governments to submit these documents to Congress.
"In this case, a rare and powerful set of factors support making the documents in question public
(...)
in view of the need to investigate and remedy the violent and unprecedented attack on Congress,"
wrote Judge Patricia Millett of the Federal Court of Appeal in Washington.