Former United States President Donald Trump requested a federal appeals court to issue a continual block on the White House documents in the National Archives in order to restrict access to the January 6 committee in the House of Representatives.
Trump’s legal team’s argument revolved around the Presidential claim of executive privilege, a card that has repeatedly been used to help block document access.
Jesse Binnal, Trump’s lawyer, reportedly filed a 54-page long brief in the appeals court and further argued that factors such as his White House term expiration and Joe Biden’s free passage should not determine if the executive privilege will remain intact, according to reports from New York Times.
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Binnal also emphasised that the balance between executive and legislative branches of the United States would shift in case a subpoena from Congress is upheld by the US courts.
He wrote in the 54-page long brief, “It is naive to assume that the fallout will be limited to President Trump or the events of January 6, 2021”, according to reports from New York Times.
The argument added, “Every Congress will point to some unprecedented thing about ‘this president’ to justify a request for his presidential records. In these hyperpartisan times, Congress will increasingly and inevitably use this new weapon to perpetually harass its political rival.”
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The January 6 committee, which has been tasked with investigating the events of the United States Capitol riots earlier this year, has been seeking White House documents. These records are expected to give insights into Trump’s schedules, meetings and communications before the violence broke out at the Capitol Hill in Washington DC.
The committee has already sent out nearly two dozen subpoenas to allies and aides of Trump, including political advisor Steve Bannon, in order to probe the January 6 incident.
