On the evening of Tuesday, 9 November, a federal judge in Washington ruled that over one hundred pages of White House records during Donald Trump's presidency can be declassified for the congressional committee that is investigating the 6 January Capitol attack, AFP reported.
The judgment was given by District Judge Tanya S Chutkan, but Trump's lawyers immediately filed an appeal in response to her ruling.
The appeal demanded that the National Archives of the US not release the concerned White House documents until a Circuit Court of Appeals has passed its ruling on the matter.
The congressional panel and the US Department of Justice “contend that discovering and coming to terms with the causes underlying the January 6 attack is a matter of unsurpassed public importance because such information relates to our core democratic institutions and the public’s confidence in them,” wrote the judge in her ruling as reported by the Washington Post.
"The court agrees."
"Presidents are not kings, and Plaintiff is not President", Judge Chutkan added.
In a statement, Representative Bennie G Thompson who heads the select committee said that the "decision affirms the importance of the Select Committee’s work to get answers for the American people, recommend changes to the law to strengthen our democracy, and help ensure nothing like the attack of January 6th ever happens again."
Trump spokesman Taylor Budowich also had a lot to say, on Twitter.
Trump had initially sued the congressional committee in order to keep the White House documents under his presidency classified.
(With inputs from AFP and the Washington Post)
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