Rachel Maddow Show: Donald Trump President Joe Biden executive privilege Jan. 6 documents materials federal district court ruling National Archives committee
Donald Trump and his legal team have spent weeks fighting to keep secret White House documents related to the Jan.6 attack on the Capitol. As NBC News reported overnight, a federal judge has handed the former president an important defeat. The federal judge seemed wholly unimpressed with Team Trump’s legal arguments, explaining in her ruling that the former president « does not acknowledge the deference owed to the incumbent President’s judgment. His position that he may override the express will of the executive branch appears to be premised on the notion that his executive power ‘exists in perpetuity.’ But Presidents are not kings, and Plaintiff is not President. « He retains the right to assert that his records are privileged, but the incumbent President ‘is not constitutionally obliged to honor’ that assertion. That is because Plaintiff is no longer situated to protect executive branch interests with ‘the information and attendant duty of executing the laws in the light of current facts and circumstances.’ And he no longer remains subject to political checks against potential abuse of that power. » Chutkan concluded, « Accordingly, 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 and occurred on January 6, and to consider legislation to prevent such events from ever occurring again.
