Trump’s effort to stop release of records to 6 January committee denied by federal appeals court

Defeat is former president’s second legal setback in a week

A federal appeals court has ruled against former President Donald Trump’s request for an injunction against a House committee tasked with investigating the attack on the US Capitol on 6 January.

The case will likely be pushed to the Supreme Court after Thursday’s setback for the former president. Mr Trump has sought to block the committee from retrieving records of his communications made with members of his inner circle in the days and hours leading up to the attack on the Capitol, as well as records of his actions during the riot.

In its ruling the court found that “the profound interests in disclosure advanced by President Biden and the January 6th Committee” outweighs the “generalized concerns for Executive Branch confidentiality” raised by the former president.

“We do not come to that conclusion lightly,” the court’s unanimous decision read.

“The confidentiality of presidential communications is critical to the effective functioning of the Presidency for the reasons that former President Trump presses, and his effort to vindicate that interest is itself a right of constitutional import.”

“[But] [w]hat Mr. Trump seeks is to have an Article III court intervene and nullify those judgments of the President and Congress, delay the Committee’s work, and derail the negotiations and accommodations that the Political Branches have made,” the court’s justices continued, adding that “a former President must meet the same legal standards for obtaining preliminary injunctive relief as everyone else. And former President Trump has failed that task.”

Among the records Mr Trump is seeking to keep confidential are call logs, emails, visitor logs, draft speeches, memos, and other documents.

The news comes as numerous members of Mr Trump’s campaign and broader sphere have been subpoenaed by the committee and are cooperating with lawmakers.

Others have defied the committee, including former Breitbart News chief Steve Bannon and former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows. Mr Bannon was referred to the Justice Department for a criminal contempt of Congress charge; the committee plans to do the same to Mr Meadows on Monday.

Two associates of the former president, former Defense Department official Kash Patel and the president’s ex-lawyer, John Eastman, were in front of the committee on Thursday as it continues to take depositions for its investigation.

Mr Eastman was the author of an infamous memo that laid out a plan for Vice President Mike Pence to interfere with the counting of Electoral College ballots on 6 January, thereby threatening the peaceful transfer of power. Mr Trump’s team hoped the vice president would attempt to seat alternate Republican-selected electors that would cast their votes for the president over objections from Senate Democrats.

The former president will have 14 days to ask the Supreme Court to block the court’s decision before the National Archives begins releasing documents to the panel. Mr Trump is likely to do so, but it is unclear if the court will act to halt those releases in time.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi celebrated the news in a statement shortly after the ruling was announced.

“Today, the Courts have once again rejected the former President’s campaign to obstruct Congress’s investigation into the January 6th insurrection,” she said. “ No one can be allowed to stand in the way of the truth – particularly not the previous President, who incited the insurrection.”

“Under the leadership of Chairman Bennie Thompson and Vice Chair Liz Cheney, the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the Capitol is pursuing its legal and moral prerogative to conduct oversight and uncover the full truth of that day, protect the Capitol and defend Democracy,” added the speaker.