US appeals court pauses release of Trump documents to House riot probe
A US appeals court has put a temporary pause on the handover of records from president Donald Trump's White House to a committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
This comes just two days after a US federal judge ruled that the records from the National Archives can be turned over to the House committee.
The National Archives, which houses the White House records, had indicated it intended to hand over the sensitive documents by Friday afternoon unless a court intervenes.
The administration of President Joe Biden had already waived executive privilege for all of the documents in the first tranche of records.
Trump, however, sued the committee and the National Archives last month in an attempt to halt the release of the records that include secret telephone records, visitor logs and other White House documents.
On Tuesday, US District Judge Tanya Chutkan ruled that Trump cannot block the release. “Presidents are not kings, and Plaintiff is not President,” Chutkan wrote in her ruling.
“The court holds that the public interest lies in permitting – not enjoining – the combined will of the legislative and executive branches to study the events that led to January 6.”
Also on Tuesday, the House select committee issued subpoenas to 10 Trump administration officials, including the former senior adviser Stephen Miller and press secretary Kayleigh McEnany.
Trump's lawyers asked the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to put Tuesday's lower court ruling on hold pending an appeal.
On Thursday, a three-judge appeals panel granted a request from the legal team for a temporary injunction to block the exchange.
The panel also scheduled a hearing on the matter for Nov. 30 to hear arguments from all parties in the case.
Now, it remains unclear how the temporary delay might affect the work of the House committee, whose chairman, Rep. Bennie Thompson, has previously said he hopes the investigation could conclude by early next year.
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