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Trump Papers Set to Be Turned Over to House Jan. 6 Committee

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a "Save America Rally" near the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021. Trump's months-long effort to toss out the election results and extend his presidency will meet its formal end this week, but not without exposing political rifts in the Republican Party that have pitted future contenders for the White House against one another.

The Congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol is set to receive some Trump White House documents over the objections of the former president.

By Bob Van Voris

Word Count: 296
(Bloomberg) — 

Four pages held by the U.S. National Archives will be turned over to the House committee by 6 p.m. on Wednesday, a Justice Department lawyer said in a court filing. The lawyer said the pages were not covered by a previous court order temporarily blocking the release of documents former President Donald Trump claims are protected by executive privilege.

Trump’s legal team claims the documents are covered and accused the Justice Department of trying to “conduct an end-run” around the order.

President Joe Biden waived executive privilege over the documents, and the federal appeals court in Washington rejected Trump’s argument that former presidents can also assert the privilege. But the court barred the release of some documents sought by the committee while the Supreme Court decides whether to take up the issue.

Read more: Trump Asks Supreme Court to Block Turnover of Jan. 6 Records

“The weighty issues being considered by the Supreme Court should be decided under the normal course, not by the government’s attempt to bypass a lawful injunction,” Jesse Binnall, a lawyer for Trump, said in a letter to the appeals court on Wednesday.

But the Justice Department says the appeals court’s order applies only to three sets of documents requested by the committee, while the documents set to be released on Wednesday belong to a fourth set.

“Because the former president has not obtained such an injunction from any court, the release will proceed as scheduled absent an intervening court order,” the Justice Department said.

The case is Trump v. Thompson, 21-05254, U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia (Washington).

(Updates with background on Biden waiver. A previous version of this story corrected a date in first paragraph)
© 2022 Bloomberg L.P.
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