Trump asks Supreme Court to block records release to Jan 6 probe

[WASHINGTON] Former US president Donald Trump asked the Supreme Court on Thursday (Dec 23) to block the release of documents to a congressional committee investigating the Jan 6 assault on the Capitol by his supporters.

Trump asked the nation's highest court to reverse a ruling this month by a federal appeals court which rejected his attempt to keep the White House records secret.

Trump, who has been accused of fomenting the attack on Congress, is seeking to exercise his privilege as a former president to keep White House documents and phone records that might relate to the Jan 6 attack a secret.

The appeals court agreed with a lower court ruling, however, that President Joe Biden could waive executive privilege on the records so they could be handed over to the congressional panel investigating the violence by Trump supporters.

In a 229-page filing with the Supreme Court, Trump's lawyers argued that "a former President has the right to assert executive privilege, even after his term of office."

AFP