Trump asks Supreme Court to block Jan 6 committee’s search for records

Plea has already been rejected by two courts

Former President Donald Trump is making one last attempt to block the House select committee investigating the 6 January Capitol riot from obtaining communication records and other documents from the National Archives as the panel presses on with its probe.

Mr Trump filed a petition with the Supreme Court on Thursday for an injunction that would halt the committee’s requests for records; his previous attempts to do so at the federal and appeals levels were rejected soundly by judges.

In his filing, lawyers for the former president argued that the committee’s request should be rejected because the panel “declined to either meaningfully limit the areas of inquiry based upon a legitimate legislative purpose or seek the information elsewhere”.

The president’s request comes as he has instructed aides to defy the committee’s subpoenas, a decision which led to a criminal contempt of Congress charge for his former strategist, Steve Bannon, and may result in the same charge for Mark Meadows, his former chief of staff.

Lawmakers on the 6 January committee have requested a wide range of communications from White House officials through the Archives and other avenues, and are seeking to get a complete view of the actions and discussions members of the White House, federal government and Trump campaign were involved in prior to the attack on the Capitol building.

Mr Trump’s appeal is a unique test for the Supreme Court, which saw three justices confirmed to the bench under Mr Trump’s presidency. The court’s newly cemented conservative majority has already caused major headaches for liberals on the issue of abortion, and some fear that it may shield him from the committee’s search for records.

Republicans have equated the committee to a naked partisan effort aimed at embarassing their party, even though two members from their party remain on the committee. A number of GOP figures have also complained that the committee does not feature more GOP representation, a farcical argument made despite House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s decision to pull his own nominees from the panel in protest.

Despite Mr Trump’s orders, the vast majority of Mr Trump’s former aides and allies subpoenaed by the committee are cooperating, and documents provided by Mr Meadows before he ceased cooperation with the panel contained new information about the efforts of Republicans including some on Capitol Hill to urge Mr Trump to call off his supporters even as they would go on months later to downplay the severity of the Capitol attack.

Trump’s lawyers went on in the filing to assert that there was no reason for the committee to want some of his communications, even as the panel has stated a clear interest in determining how much Mr Trump’s allies knew ahead of time regarding the likelihood of violence on 6 January, not to mention the lawmakers’ desire to investigate claims that Mr Trump slow-walked his response to the riot because he approved of the rioters’ goals.

“This sweeping request alone demands access to any number of records to which Congress is not – in any way – entitled,” reads the filing.

“First, such records have nothing to do with the events of January 6th. Second, these records are protected by executive and other privileges. And third, and most importantly, these requests exceed the scope of the requesting committee’s authority because they lack any conceivable related legislative purpose,” argued his lawyers.

The January 6 panel has not yet issued a statement on Mr Trump’s appeal; meanwhile, the committee’s work continues unabated.

On Wednesday, the panel announced that it would request information voluntarily from Rep Jim Jordan, a GOP congressman found in Mr Meadows’ messages to have been spreading arguments in favour of Mike Pence interfering in the final certification of the 2020 election on January 6 just hours before the attack would occur.