Trump documents will prompt 'very targeted, very specific questions' from House panel probing Jan. 6 attack on Capitol

WASHINGTON – The National Archives said Thursday it was preparing to provide about 800 pages of contested documents from former President Donald Trump’s administration – including call logs and handwritten notes – to the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.

The move came after the Supreme Court ruled Wednesday against blocking access to the documents. Jeffrey Robbins, a former assistant U.S. attorney and lawyer for the Senate Permanent Committee on Investigations, said the documents will allow congressional investigators to sharpen their questions of witnesses.

“The committee is intending to put on to public view as tight and compelling and specific a case as they possibly can," said Robbins, who now practices with Saul Ewing Arnstein and Lehr. "It isn’t only giving the committee a general sense of things, it’s enabling staff lawyers to ask very targeted, very specific questions that they might not otherwise be in a position to ask."

Trump fought to keep the records confidential under a claim of executive privilege, to ensure presidents receive candid advice from aides.

But the high court refused to block the release, even while acknowledging disputes about executive privilege “raise serious and substantial concerns.” The court upheld the D.C. Circuit of Appeals, which ruled that President Joe Biden waiving executive privilege outweighed Trump’s claim.

The House committee is investigating what led up to the attack on the Capitol and what happened Jan. 6, 2021, when a mob ransacked the building, injured 140 police officers and temporarily halted the counting of Electoral College votes certifying Biden’s victory.

Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., who heads the committee, said rioters were propelled by a "big lie" about election fraud.

"We need to understand how and why the big lie festered. We need to know minute by minute how Jan. 6 unfolded," Thompson said at the panel's first hearing in July. "We need to understand how the rotten lie behind Jan. 6 has continued to spread and feed the forces that would undermine American democracy."

More: Who has been subpoenaed so far by the Jan. 6 committee?

The National Archives initially divided the contested documents into four batches, the first of which was scheduled for release beginning in November, until Trump’s lawsuit caused a postponement.

The committee received the fourth batch, which consisted of four pages, on Wednesday because the Justice Department said the papers fell outside the scope of the case. Another two pages overlapped with pages in the first batch, so the archives held onto them until the lawsuit was resolved. The papers haven’t been described in court papers because they weren’t part of the lawsuit.

What's in the records?

The other three batches were described in general terms as part of Trump's lawsuit. The first batch included daily presidential diaries, schedules and activity logs, according to a National Archives filing. The documents covered drafts of speeches, remarks and correspondence concerning Jan. 6, the agency said.

The bulk of the second batch are from the press secretary’s binders, including talking points and statements about the 2020 election. A “much smaller” number of documents included presidential calendars, handwritten notes about Jan. 6, a draft speech for the Save America March, a handwritten list of potential or scheduled briefings and phone calls concerning election issues and a drat executive order concerning election integrity, according to the agency.

The third batch included a memo originating outside the White House regarding a potential lawsuit by the United States against several states Biden won, according to the agency.

National Archivist David Ferriero told Trump in a letter Oct. 13 the first batch included 39 pages, in a letter Oct. 27 the second batch included 724 pages and in a letter Nov. 19 the third batch included 34 pages.

Robbins said call logs and handwritten notes are invaluable in eliciting testimony because they prompt questions and corroborate answers.

“It allows you to go to witnesses and say, ‘What did you say. What did this mean? What was the purpose of this email?’" Robbins said. "Then it sharpens the ability of the lawyers on the committee to extract usable testimony from witnesses because witnesses are forced to testify about specific documents."

Thompson told reporters he expected the committee to receive the documents "shortly."

“I’m guessing the committee did everything it could to have the archives ready to go as soon as there was a decision and that the committee is putting a considerable pressure on the archives to get the documents over to the committee as fast as possible," Robbins said.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: House Jan. 6 panel gets contested Trump documents to sharpen probe