Judge in D.C. Rejects Trump’s Attempt to Subpoena ‘Missing’ Jan. 6 Committee Records

November 27, 2023 TruthUSA

The federal judge overseeing Donald Trump’s election interference case in Washington, D.C., struck down the former president’s request to subpoena “missing materials” from the now-closed House Select Committee investigating the events of Jan. 6, 2021.

In a seven-page ruling Monday, U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan wrote Trump “has not sufficiently justified his requests for either the ‘missing materials’ themselves or the other five categories of documents related to them.

“The broad scope of the records that Defendant seeks, and his vague description of their potential relevance, resemble less ‘a good faith effort to obtain identified evidence’ than they do a general ‘fishing expedition’ that attempts to use the [Rule 17(c) subpoena] as a discovery device,” Chutkan wrote.

Trump’s legal team filed a pre-trial motion in October asking Chutkan to issue subpoenas to seven federal agencies and officials, including Colleen Shogan, administrator of the National Archives and Records Administration. It is unknown if Trump’s legal team plans to appeal Chutkan’s ruling.

Rep. Barry Loudermilk, R-Ga., chair of the House Administration Subcommittee on Oversight, wrote a June letter to Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., chair of the Democrat-run Jan. 6 select committee, that “video recordings of transcribed interviews and depositions, which featured prominently during the Select Committee’s hearings, were not archived or transferred to the Committee on House Administration. Only written transcripts were provided.”

But in a return letter, Thompson wrote all material was properly archived according to House rules.

Trump has pleaded not guilty to a four-count indictment by Department of Justice special counsel Jack Smith regarding alleged attempts to subvert the 2020 election results. The trial is expected to begin March 4, the day before Super Tuesday in the presidential primary season.

Trump is the front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.