The congressional committee investigating the January 6 attack on the US Capitol on Thursday urged the Supreme Court to deny a request by former President Donald Trump to shield some of his White House records, Reuters reported.
In a written brief, the committee asked the high court to leave in place a lower court ruling that cleared the way for investigators to see telephone records, visitor logs and other documents for the closing weeks of Trump's presidency.
"Although the facts are unprecedented, this case is not a difficult one," lawyers for the House of Representatives committee said in their brief.
The committee has said it needs the requested materials to understand the role Trump may have played in fomenting the riot.
Trump last week asked the US Supreme Court to block the release of White House records sought by the House of Representatives committee investigating the January 6 riots at the Capitol.
The former President’s request came two weeks after the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled that he had had no basis to challenge President Joe Biden's decision to allow the documents to be handed over. That decision will remain on hold until the Supreme Court acts.
The documents in question are with the National Archives, the US government's official body for preserving government records.
In May, the US House of Representatives passed a bill to form a commission to probe the January 6 attack on the Capitol. The bill was approved in a 252-175 vote, with 35 Republicans joining all Democrats in support.
Two days later, however, Senate Republicans blocked the legislation. Senators voted 54-35 on the House-passed bill, falling short of the 10 GOP votes needed to get it over an initial hurdle.
Without any pathway forward in the Senate, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced she would use her power to pursue a select committee in the House that will be controlled by Democrats.
Trump’s appeal to the Supreme Court comes days after Michael Flynn, Trump’s former national security adviser, sued to block the House Committee’s subpoena for his phone records.
The House separately subpoenaed Flynn in early November for him to turn over records he had related to the 2020 election, as well as demanding he testify. A number of top Trump aides were subpoenaed by the committee together with Flynn.