US District Court Judge allows committee to access Capitol riot docs despite Trump request

On Tuesday, November 9, United States District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan pronounced that the House Select Committee will be permitted to access approximately 700 pages of documents relating to the January 6 Capitol riot. He ruled that the committee will have access to the said documents from Friday, November 12, reported news agency Sputnik.

Judge Chutkan denied former President Donald Trump's request to prevent the records from being released to the Democrat-controlled committee probing the January 6 incident.

Meanwhile, Trump's legal team intends to appeal the verdict of the federal judge. Chutkan argued in the verdict that this was a dispute between a former and current President, and that the Supreme Court has already stated that the incumbent's view is given more weight in such cases. "Presidents are not kings, and the plaintiff is not President," the judge remarked, adding that Trump "does not respect the deference owed" to Joe Biden's judgement as the incumbent President.

House Select Committee's chief hails the judgemet

The judgement said that the public interest lies in allowing the combined will of the legislative and executive branches to analyse the events that led up to and transpired on January 6, and to contemplate legislation to prevent similar events from occurring in the future.

Meanwhile, according to Sputnik, Bennie Thompson, the chair of the House Select Committee investigating the events of January 6, hailed Chutkan's decision as "a big deal", suggesting Trump should stop acting like a "spoiled brat". It is worth mentioning here that dozens of Trump supporters attacked the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, in an attempt to prevent Congress from certifying the results of what the 45th President called "the most corrupt election" in the history of the United States.

During the riots, five people died and many were injured, including at least 138 police officers. Since then, law enforcement has arrested roughly 600 people, who were allegedly involved in the Capitol riots, with some of them also charged with attacking federal police officers.

On January 6, Trump also addressed a rally outside the White House, promising supporters that the election would not be "stolen" from him. The Republican leader later asked his supporters to "remain peaceful" and "go home" via his now-suspended Twitter account. On January 7, he also recorded a video speech condemning the violence. 

Image: AP/ANI/Representative