'Presidents Are Not Kings': Federal Judge Rules

Regular Member Posts : 7317 Join date : 2014-07-29

11-9-2021

'Presidents are not kings':
Federal judge rules Jan. 6 committee can access Trump's records.

In a significant setback for former president Donald Trump, a federal judge ruled Tuesday that the House Select Committee investigating the Capitol insurrection can access his White House records related to the attack.

U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan issued a 39-page decision in which she rejected arguments from Trump's lawyers that the documents should be kept from the committee based on executive privilege.

Chutkan wrote that Trump's argument appeared
to be "premised on the notion that his executive power 'exists in perpetuity.'"

"But Presidents are not kings, and Plaintiff
(Trump) is not President," Chutkan wrote.

CNN chief White House correspondent Kaitlan Collins called Chutkan's ruling "huge news."

The National Archives is facing a deadline of Friday to begin handing over the documents, but Trump is expected to appeal the ruling.

"The ruling, if upheld, could greatly speed the work
of the committee.

Of nearly 800 pages of documents that Trump has sought withheld, many such as White House visitor and call logs are unavailable elsewhere,"
the Washington Post reports.

"Other responsive records identified by the National Archives include emails and other communications; draft speeches and talking points on election irregularities; and memos regarding potential lawsuits against states Biden won."

Regular Member Posts : 7317 Join date : 2014-07-29

11-9-2021

‘The fat lady has sung:’

A federal judge's decision Tuesday to reject former president Donald Trump's executive privilege claims should pave the way for Attorney General Merrick Garland to prosecute Steve Bannon for contempt, according to constitutional law scholar Laurence Tribe.

Tribe believes Garland should already have initiated
a prosecution of Bannon, after the House referred to the Department of Justice a contempt citation against him for defying a subpoena from the committee investigating the Capitol insurrection.

However, that it's possible Garland, out of an abundance of caution, was waiting for a judge to signal that Trump and his allies are not protected by executive privilege in the Capitol riot probe.

"If that's what he (Garland) was waiting for, he got it tonight, and if he does not move immediately, it will be inexcusable."

"He will, in all effects and purposes, he will be obstructing Congress. He will be preventing the effectuation of a legitimate and crucial congressional investigation, because all of these guys who are getting subpoenaed have no particular incentive to comply if Steve Bannon can get away with stonewalling."

He expects the judge's ruling to be upheld on appeal — even if Trump tries to take it to the Supreme Court.

"The fat lady has sung, the music is over, and he's got to turn over the documents, and I think Bannon has got to be prosecuted."
'I think we're about to watch a very rapid show."

Expert says judge's ruling spells trouble for Trump, Bannon in Jan. 6 probe

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Regular Member Posts : 7317 Join date : 2014-07-29

11-10-2021

Trump's attempt to keep January 6 documents away from Congress crashes and burns in court -- again

Another day, another court loss for former
President Donald Trump.

Politico's Kyle Cheney reports that Judge Tanya Chutkan has denied Trump's request for an injunction to block her earlier ruling on whether he can claim executive privilege over documents currently held by the National Archive that are related to the January 6th Capitol riots.

In the ruling, the judge noted the absurdity of Trump attorneys asking her to give them an injunction for a ruling that she just delivered one day earlier.

"This court will not effectively ignore its own reasoning in denying injunctive relief in the first place to grant injunctive relief now," she wrote.

Read the full ruling at this link (PDF).

https://www.politico.com/f/?id=0000017d-0cc9-dddc-a77f-0ddb5b740000

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'Presidents Are Not Kings': Federal Judge Rules 1f61b

Court temporarily delays release of Trump's Jan. 6 records
NOMAAN MERCHANT
Thu, November 11, 2021, 10:20 AM

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal appeals court on Thursday temporarily blocked the release of White House records sought by a U.S. House committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection, granting — for now — a request from former President Donald Trump.

The administrative injunction issued by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit effectively bars until the end of this month the release of records that were to be turned over Friday. The appeals court set oral arguments in the case for Nov. 30.

The stay gives the court time to consider arguments in a momentous clash between the former president, whose supporters stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, and President Joe Biden and Congress, who have pushed for a thorough investigation of the riot. It delays the House committee from reviewing records that lawmakers say could shed light on the events leading up to the insurrection and Trump's efforts to delegitimize an election he lost.

The National Archives, which holds the documents, says they include call logs, handwritten notes, and a draft executive order on “election integrity.”

Biden waived executive privilege on the documents. Trump then went to court arguing that as a former president, he still had the right to exert privilege over the records and releasing them would damage the presidency in the future.

U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan on Tuesday rejected those arguments, noting in part, “Presidents are not kings, and Plaintiff is not President.” She again denied an emergency motion by Trump on Wednesday.

In their emergency filing to the appeals court, Trump’s lawyers wrote that without a stay, Trump would “suffer irreparable harm through the effective denial of a constitutional and statutory right to be fully heard on a serious disagreement between the former and incumbent President.”

The Nov. 30 arguments will take place before three judges nominated by Democratic presidents: Patricia Millett and Robert Wilkins, nominated by former President Barack Obama, and Ketanji Brown Jackson, an appointee of Biden.

Given the case's magnitude, whichever side loses before the circuit court is likely to eventually appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The White House on Thursday also notified a lawyer for Mark Meadows, Trump’s former chief of staff, that Biden would waive any executive privilege that would prevent Meadows from cooperating with the committee, according to a letter obtained by The Associated Press. The committee has subpoenaed Meadows and more than two dozen other people as part of its investigation.

His lawyer, George Terwilliger, issued a statement in response saying Meadows "remains under the instructions of former President Trump to respect longstanding principles of executive privilege.”

“It now appears the courts will have to resolve this conflict,” Terwilliger said.

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Non-Partisan Facts: https://usafacts.org

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