WASHINGTON: A US judge Tuesday ordered White House records that could implicate former President Donald Trump in the January 6 attack on the Capitol be released to a Congressional committee, despite the ex-leader’s attempts to keep them secret.
The documents have been sought by the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 violence, in which hundreds of Trump supporters forced the shutdown of Congress and delayed a joint session to confirm that Joe Biden had won the November 2020 election and would become president.
Trump sued seeking a stay to halt the release of the documents, arguing that as former president he retained executive privilege to keep the communications and visitor logs related to that day under seal.
In a 39-page opinion made available by several US media outlets, US District Judge Tanya Chutkan said Trump’s request was denied, stating it was in the public’s interest to release the documents and that he was “unlikely to succeed on the merits of his claims or suffer irreparable harm.”
“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,” the opinion said.
The documents that Trump hoped to block include records from his top aides and memos to his press secretary, according to a court document published in October.
Trump’s lawyers have already said they will appeal the ruling, according to The Washington Post.
US judge rules Trump Capitol attack records can be released to Congress
https://arab.news/8gt7q
US judge rules Trump Capitol attack records can be released to Congress
- Documents have been sought by the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 violence
- Donald Trump’s lawyers have already said they will appeal the ruling
Four killed in Ukraine as Moscow and Kyiv exchange drone strikes
- Kyiv said Russian drone strikes had killed two people and wounded seven more in Kharkiv
- Synegubov said two people had been killed in the attack on the Shevchenkivsky district
KHARKIV, Ukraine: Russian and Ukrainian drone strikes killed at least four people Wednesday, officials said, as the war between the neighbors dragged on for more than four years with no diplomatic breakthrough in sight.
The latest attacks came with a third round of three-party talks derailed by the war in the Middle East, despite pressure from Washington on both sides to agree to an elusive peace deal.
Kyiv said Russian drone strikes had killed two people and wounded seven more in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv.
Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, which lies close to the Russian border, was encircled at the beginning of Russia’s invasion four years ago.
It has been attacked almost daily since Moscow’s forces were pushed back later in 2022.
The governor of the wider region, Oleg Synegubov, said two people had been killed in the attack on the Shevchenkivsky district.
“A civilian enterprise caught fire as a result of the enemy strike,” he said, adding that three women and four men had been hospitalized.
Another Russian drone wounded 20 people in the afternoon, after hitting a civilian minibus in the southeastern city of Kherson, Ukrainian prosecutors said.
In the Russian-occupied part of the southern Zaporizhzhia region, Moscow-installed authorities said two civilians had been killed in their car by a Ukrainian drone strike on the frontline town of Vasylivka.
“The danger of repeated strikes remains,” Kremlin-appointed governor Yevgeny Balitsky said.
