Former President Trump on Monday filed a federal lawsuit against the Jan. 6 select committee seeking to block the panel from obtaining his administration’s records from the National Archives.
“The Committee’s request amounts to nothing less than a vexatious, illegal fishing expedition openly endorsed by Biden and designed to unconstitutionally investigate President Trump and his administration,” the lawsuit reads. “Our laws do not permit such an impulsive, egregious action against a former President and his close advisors.”
The committee requested in August that the National Archives turn over an exhaustive list of records from Trump’s time in office and the aftermath of the Capitol riot.
President Biden declined to assert executive privilege over certain records that were requested. Trump’s lawyers said in their lawsuit Monday that the former president had an interest in preserving his executive privilege over certain documents.
“As it relates to any materials being sought in situations like this, where fundamental privileges and constitutional issues are at stake and where a committee has declined to grant sufficient time to conduct a full review, there is a longstanding bipartisan tradition of protective assertions of executive privilege designed to ensure the ability to make a final assertion, if necessary, over some or all of the requested material,” the lawsuit reads.
A spokesman for the committee’s chairman, Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), did not immediately respond when asked for comment.
This report was originally published on The Hill.
