Judge denies Trump effort to shield records from Jan. 6 committee

A federal judge on Tuesday denied former President Trump’s claim of executive privilege in regards to a House committee’s probe into the Jan. 6 insurrection.

Driving the news: Judge Tanya Chutkan said the Jan 6. committee could access hundreds of pages of documents from the Trump White House that the former president’s legal team had moved to block.

• The Trump team argued in part that handing over the records would undermine special privileges aimed at protecting presidents’ abilities to have candid conversations.

The latest: Trump’s lawyers filed an appeal soon after the ruling.

What they’re saying: Chutkan noted in the ruling that the plaintiff, Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), chairman of the Jan. 6 select committee, “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,'” Chutkan added. “But Presidents are not kings, and Plaintiff is not President.”

Worth noting: Chutkan, an appointee of former President Obama, during a hearing last week questioned Trump lawyer Justin Clark on if he can still assert executive privilege — which typically applies to sitting presidents.

• But Chutkan had also called the panel’s more than 700-page request of Trump files from National Archives “alarmingly broad,” citing requests relating to polling data and election issues.

For the record: The Biden administration has asserted it does not believe that privilege should apply in all cases, and that they will evaluate records requests on a case-by-case basis.

• A lawyer for the National Archives argued last week that Biden’s view on privilege carried more weight than his predecessor’s, and that the nature of the Jan. 6 attack did “create a Congressional need that outweigh confidentiality in this instance.”

What’s next: The first batch of documents was initially set to be turned over on Friday, per NBC News.

• Representatives for Trump did not immediately respond to Axios’ request for comment.

Editor’s note: This article has been updated to include details of Trump’s appeal filing and with comment from Chutkan.