US SC rejects Trump bid to shield Capitol attack records

WASHINGTON: The US Supreme Court on Tuesday formally ended former president Donald Trump’s bid to block the release to congressional investigators of White House records related to last year’s attack on the Capitol.

The court’s decision, issued in an unsigned order that made no comment, followed its rejection last month of Trump’s emergency request to shield the documents held by the National Archives.

Trump, who has been accused of fomenting the deadly January 6 assault by a mob of his supporters, had asked the nation’s highest court to stay a ruling by a federal appeals court rejecting the petition. But it refused in a decision issued on January 19, and Tuesday’s announcement marks the definitive end of the line for Trump’s legal fight.

"We expected this to happen after the Court voted 8-1 to deny Trump’s request to block documents while they considered his petition for review," the public accountability watchdog Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington said in a statement.

"But even though it was expected, it’s still good to see it happen." The House select committee is scrutinizing the attempt by hundreds of Trump supporters to block congressional certification of President Joe Biden’s November 2020 election victory by storming the Capitol.