Former President Trump cannot block the House Jan. 6 Committee from accessing executive branch records created during his administration, a federal judge ruled on Tuesday evening.
Well, now. Guaranteed to be an interesting 72 hours as the flailing of the flabulous former reaches a ruddy peak in anticipation of accountability.
So they have two days (weds, thurs) to get the DC appellate court to issue a stay. One in three chance of landing Neomi Rao on the 3 judge panel, to give her a chance to issue another one of her “you can’t subpoena the president’s docs unless you’re already investigating the president” opinions.
I kind of wish she’d just held her decision until Monday…or maybe Friday afternoon after the Archives released info. 
Silly judge is never gonna make the supreme court if she keeps doing this working nights and weekends thing. It’s unseemly, simply not done in the highest court of the land. At least, not for congressional subpoenae.
The good guys have a 7-4 advantage among the non-senior judges at the D.C. Circuit. And while Rao is a Trump fluffer of the first order, I rather doubt that the court as a whole is especially amenable to covering up documents that the Biden administration can mostly release unilaterally anytime they like (the Presidential Records Act only restricts the National Archives guy, and it seems highly improbable that the White House doesn’t have copies of the relevant documents). There’s no crime if Joe just sends the Select Committee whatever he wants.
Thanks
Drumpf’s dude with the office on the second floor above a Lebanese restaurant would have just filed for a writ of mandamus (doomed) at the D.C. Circuit, or maybe just tried to take it directly to the Supreme Court (also doomed).
Let me just add this: If this lawsuit had any realistic chance of succeeding, or even running out the clock, Fat Donnie Two Impeachments would have paid real money to real lawyers to handle this thing. Instead, he found a guy with an office above a Lebanese restaurant who’s obviously doing this for free so he can burnish his fascist/grifter bonafides.
They shouldn’t allow anyone try to cover up their actions (crimes).
Welcome to the crime/fraud exception.
Fast like strong wind through cheap yurt.
One thing that never seems to come up is that, even if the Congress, being a separate branch of the government, is not entitled to the documents, President Biden, as the Executive himself, is entitled to them whenever he wants them. They are the documents of his branch of government.
So there should be nothing to prevent Biden from getting the documents for himself, and then sharing them with the Committee at his discretion.
Didn’t the National Archives say that they would release the documents unless they were specifically ordered not to by the court?
I don’t know if they said it, but that is how the Presidential Records Act works. If the former preznit asserts privilege, and the sitting president declines to assert privilege, he has 30 days to get a DC federal court to issue a stay. At the end of the 30 days without a stay (Friday morning) the archivist is free to release the docs.
What about “must” release?
Subpoenae can be rather compelling.
You mean he didn’t call Saul?
If I lived in Texas (which I did for a year) I’d have you handle my legal work just for the fun of being able to shoot the shit on politics in person.,
