Trump seeks to release of presidential documents at major hearing Thursday

Trump has asked the DC District Court to block the National Archives from giving more than 700 pages of documents to the House Select Committee investigating January 6. He’s claimed the House’s investigation is illegitimate, and that his role as a former President should give him control over reviewing and deciding upon access to the records.

In court, the House has cast its investigation as one of its most critical tasks in history. “In 2021, for the first time since the Civil War, the Nation did not experience a peaceful transfer of power,” lawyers for the House wrote over the weekend. “A peaceful transfer of power from one President to another is crucial to the continuation of our democratic government. It is difficult to imagine a more critical subject for Congressional investigation, and Mr. Trump’s arguments cannot overcome that pressing legislative need.”

The National Archives, a part of the executive branch that inherited Trump’s presidential records after he left office, has already decided the House should get access to the records from Trump’s term as President. The agency is set to turn those over beginning next week, on November 12, unless Chutkan or an appeals court orders otherwise.

But the issues about executive privilege that Trump raises now put the court in a novel position weighing the needs of the House against his pleas for privacy for his now-completed time in office.

“Permitting the expansive request here would harm future presidents and their close aides by allowing invasive congressional fishing expeditions that will certainly chill candid advice and harm the institution of the presidency,” Trump’s lawyers wrote to the court this week.

The records Trump wants to keep secret at this time appear to be a treasure trove of notes from his top advisers related to his insistence the election was stolen and his reaction to his supporters…