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Donald Trump sues to stop Capitol riot inquiry committee seeing White House records

Probe: Donald Trump claims he is being harassed (Niall Carson/PA) (PA Archive)
Probe: Donald Trump claims he is being harassed (Niall Carson/PA) (PA Archive)

Donald Trump is suing the congressional committee investigating January’s storming of the Capitol by his supporters in a bid to stop it obtaining White House records.

The former president claims the documents are covered by executive privilege, which protects the confidentiality of some White House communications. But committee members accused Mr Trump of seeking to “delay and obstruct” their investigation.

They are looking at his actions before, during and after the storming of the Capitol by hundreds of his supporters trying to overturn his election defeat to Joe Biden.

Mr Trump was impeached by the Democrat-led House in January on a charge of inciting the attack in a fiery speech at a rally earlier that day. He was acquitted by the Senate.

Mr Trump’s legal action, filed at a Washington court, accuses the committee and its chairman, Democratic congressman Bennie Thompson, of harassing the former president and some of his senior advisers with “an illegal, unfounded and overbroad records request to the archivist of the United States”.

He accused Mr Biden of staging a “political ploy” by refusing to block access to the records. This month the President authorised the National Archives to hand over an initial tranche of documents. It said it would do so next month, according to Mr Trump’s lawsuit, which seeks an injunction halting that process.

Michael Stern, a former congressional lawyer, said Mr Trump’s strategy may be to use litigation to stall the select committee’s work.

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