President Trump’s attempt to quash records released by the Office of Congressional Ethics, which investigated his presidential campaign for fraud, is encountering resistance from federal courts. On Monday, Trump’s lawyers complained that release of the OCE’s findings could hurt the ability of the president to control information in an honest way. A federal appeals court disagreed, and is expected to issue a ruling soon.
Read more in Politico’s report here.
Under the U.S. Constitution, the president, or someone acting in his stead, has the power to block release of documents. Indeed, the Supreme Court has endorsed Trump’s claims that executive privilege ensures confidentiality to him and his office. As Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch noted last year in the confirmation hearing, the privilege is “generally understood to include the president’s ability to discuss sensitive national security issues or other matters of public importance in private.”
Read more here.
Letter from the president and his lawyers supporting an appeal by Marc Kasowitz, Trump’s personal attorney, requesting an order to stop the release of records from the Office of Congressional Ethics. pic.twitter.com/Tr3SkBz52h — Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) June 19, 2017
What role, if any, the Freedom of Information Act played in this case was not immediately clear on Monday. OCE is an independent investigative agency established under the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial reform law. The commission consists of nine Americans who have been appointed by Congress. Its purpose is to enhance transparency of the political process and prevent corruption.