Days after the Jan. 6 committee began receiving records from the National Archives following the Supreme Court’s rejection of former President Trump’s effort to bar the release of documents, some details have reportedly started to emerge regarding documents from Trump’s White House that the panel has received thus far.
According to Politico on Thursday, the committee has received four notable items: two drafts of tweets that the former president ultimately sent the day before the deadly Capitol insurrection last year, as well as a legal memo and a handwritten note on White House stationery.
The memo reportedly echoes arguments that Trump lawyer John Eastman made in the days leading up to the insurrection. Eastman argued that then-Vice President Mike Pence had the authority to refuse to certify Joe Biden’s electoral victory on the day of the joint session of Congress. Pence, however, was not persuaded by Eastman.
It is currently unclear who wrote the memo or which of Trump’s draft tweets the committee obtained, according to Politico. The contents of the handwritten note have not been reported either.
Politico noted that the immediacy of the four notable documents signal that the committee will soon receive a wide variety of documents, some of which the panel could obtain on a daily basis.
Production of materials is ongoing.
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court refused a request from Trump to block a subpoena from the committee for records about the Capitol insurrection. The 8-1 ruling allows the panel to receive records it requested in October from the National Archives. The records contain hundreds of pages, and include notes taken by White House staff during the Jan. 6, 2021 attack.
Trump had insisted that, as a former President, he could assert executive privilege over records created during his term. President Biden, however, decided against exercising privilege over the records the committee requested.
According to the Justice Department, some of the records Trump tried to block include: White House call logs and speech drafts for him dated Jan. 6, in addition to “a draft Executive Order concerning election integrity.”
The committee swiftly praised the Supreme Court’s decision on Wednesday, saying that it had already started to receive the records that the former president hoped wouldn’t get in its hands.
