The decision of a Federal Court of Appeal shall allow the Parliamentary Inquiry Commission to learn more about the role of the former President in the 19 January attack. The latter has fourteen days to turn to the Supreme Court.
Le Monde with AFP
Donald Trump’s remedies to prevent disclosure from his actions during the Capitol’s assault on January 6th, are thinning. A Federal Court of Appeal decided on Thursday, December 9, that the former US president could not block the transfer to the Congress of Blanche Documents on this event that shocked America and the world.
These archives, which he wants to keep secret, include among others the lists of people who visited him or having called that day. The decision may allow a parliamentary commission to shed light on its role in this assault by its supporters, when elected officials certified Joe Biden’s victory to the presidential election.
However, the Court leaves fourteen days to Mr. Trump to address the US Supreme Court, what it should do, according to the sentence of the former president. “Regardless of the decision today by the Court of Appeal, this case has always been destined for the Supreme Court,” said Liz Harrington on Twitter .
The former president, who denies any liability in the attack, denounces “a political game” and refuses to collaborate. He seized justice in the name of a prerogative of the executive power to keep his communications confidential, even in the event of assignments issued by the Congress.
Race against the watch
After first contradictory decisions, the Court of Appeal estimated that Thursday that it had no reason to go against the decision of the current tenant of the White House, Joe Biden, which authorized the National Archives to give these documents to the Congress.
“In this file, a rare and powerful set of factors argues to make public the documents in question (…) given the need to investigate and remedy the violent and unprecedented attack on the Congress”, Written Judge Patricia Millett of the Washington Federal Court of Appeal.
This decision represents an important victory in the race against the watch initiated by the Special Commission of the House of Representatives. It wants at all costs to publish its conclusions before the mid-term elections, in less than a year, during which the Republicans could resume control of the House and burying his work.
With this deadline, the Commission advances forced: it has already heard more than 300 witnesses, said, Thursday, the Republican Liz Cheney, which is one of the elected president.
But the old tenant of the White House has responded to his entourage to tighten the ranks. One of the craftsmen of his victory in 2016, the sulfurous Steve Bannon, snubked the convocations to the Congress and was charged with obstruction of the prerogatives of parliamentary inquiry, which is why he incurs the prison.
Former Chief of cabinet of Donald Trump, Mark Meadows, risk the same fate. The Commission will meet Monday to decide whether it recommends prosecution.
“Do not be fooled: President Trump is trying to hide what happened on January 6”, warned Liz Cheney on Twitter. “We will not let that happen.”