Court blocked the release of documents on the assault on the United States Capitol

A United States appeals court temporarily blocked the disclosure of documents about the assault on the Capitol last January, after a judge ruled against the attempt by former President Donald Trump (2017-2021) to keep them hidden.

The decision was made by a three-judge panel of the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, which issued a temporary injunction in response to an emergency motion filed Thursday by Trump’s attorneys.

The ex-president’s defenders requested to temporarily stop the delivery of the documents, including call logs and details about what was happening in the White House while the assault was taking place, to a congressional commission investigating that incident, in which five people died.

The current president, Joe Biden, had authorized the National Archives to deliver to the commission a first package of documents starting at 6:00 p.m. local time (23:00 GMT) on Friday.

Today’s court order gives judges more time to review an appeal filed by Trump on this matter.

Similarly, he scheduled the oral arguments of that appeal for next November 30.

This Tuesday, the magistrate, Tanya S. Chutkan, with a court in the District of Columbia, had indicated that the Congressional commission investigating the assault has the right to receive these documents, as the White House also maintains.

Trump invoked an alleged “executive privilege” in his judicial dispute with the investigating commission to avoid the disclosure of the documents.

The commission was promoted by the president of the United States Lower House, Nancy Pelosi, and is made up of a majority of Democratic congressmen and only two Republicans – Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger – who are at odds with the former president.

In addition to the request for documents, the commission has summoned multiple Trump collaborators to testify, including his former chief of staff Mark Meadows or his former adviser and far-right leader Steve Bannon. (I)