Former president Trump is asking a federal judge to conduct a document-by-document review of White House records sought by the House Select Committee investigating the Capitol insurrection.
Trump "is pleading with a federal judge in Washington to slow down" the House Select Committee's efforts to obtain more than 700 pages of records from his presidency, Politico reported Tuesday night, adding that such a review "could take months."
In a 33-page filing Tuesday, Trump lawyer Jesse Binnall also falsely claimed that "both the FBI and Senate have confirmed that there was no coordinated effort, including at the White House, to overturn the election on January 6," according to Politico.
"Reuters reported in August that the FBI had so far found 'scant' evidence that there was a broader conspiracy beyond small pockets of militia groups, and Binnall cited that report, sourced to 'four current and former law enforcement officials' as evidence of his claim," the site reported. "But the FBI has not affirmed this conclusion, and the Jan. 6 committee explicitly rejected this contention."
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U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan has scheduled a hearing for Thursday in a lawsuit brought by Trump alleging that the documents are shielded by executive privilege. Binnall's reply brief filed Tuesday is the last scheduled written argument in the case prior to the hearing, according to CNN.
"Trump's lawyers also attempt to make a political slam against Biden, for the Justice Department defending the (National Archives and Records Administration's) decision that the Trump records should be turned over to the House this month," CNN reported.
Binnall wrote: "It is curious that Department of Justice has submitted a brief in this case on behalf of the Archivist and NARA when those parties ostensibly have no interest in whether the records at issue here are disclosed or not. One can only assume that President Biden has endorsed the naked politicization of the Justice Department in the service of his own political ends."
But according to CNN: "Trump, however, had named the Archives as a defendant in his lawsuit, necessitating that it respond in court, represented by the Justice Department."
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