Trump v. Thompson

• Decision Date: 09 November 2021
• Docket Number: Civil Action No. 21-cv-2769 (TSC)
• Citation: 573 F.Supp.3d 1
• Parties: Donald J. TRUMP, Plaintiff, v. Bennie G. THOMPSON, in his official capacity as Chairman of the United States House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Columbia

573 F.Supp.3d 1

Donald J. TRUMP, Plaintiff,

v.Bennie G. THOMPSON, in his official capacity as Chairman of the United States House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, et al., Defendants.

Civil Action No. 21-cv-2769 (TSC)

United States District Court, District of Columbia.

Signed November 9, 2021

Jesse R. Binnall, Binnall Law Group, Alexandria, VA, for Plaintiff.

Annie L. Owens, Joseph Wilfred Mead, Mary B. McCord, Georgetown University Law Center, Douglas N. Letter, Todd Barry Tatelman, Stacie Marion Fahsel, United States House of Representatives Office of General Counsel, Eric Randal Columbus, Office of General Counsel District of Columbia, Washington, DC, for Defendants Bennie G. Thompson, United States House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol.

Elizabeth J. Shapiro, James J. Gilligan, U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Division, Washington, DC, for Defendants David S. Ferriero, National Archives and Records Administration.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

TANYA S. CHUTKAN, United States District Judge On January 6, 2021, hundreds of rioters converged on the U.S. Capitol. They scaled walls, demolished barricades, and smashed windows in a violent attempt to gain control of the building and stop the certification of the 2020 presidential election results. This unprecedented attempt to prevent the lawful transfer of power from one administration to the next caused property damage, injuries, and death, and for the first time since the election of 1860, the transfer of executive power was distinctly not peaceful.

The question of how that day's events came about and who was responsible for them is not before the court. Instead, the present dispute involves purely legal questions that, though difficult and important to our government's functioning, are comparatively narrow in scope. Plaintiff—former President Donald J. Trump—challenges the legality of a U.S. House of Representatives Select Committee's requests for certain records maintained by the National Archives and Records Administration ("NARA") pursuant to the Presidential Records Act. Plaintiff argues that the Committee's requests are impermissible because at least some of the records sought are shielded by executive privilege and because the requests exceed Congress’ constitutional power. He seeks an injunction prohibiting Defendants—the House Select Committee, the Chairman of the House Select Committee, NARA, and the Archivist of NARA—from enforcing or complying with the Committee's requests. For the reasons explained below, the court will deny Plaintiff's requested relief.

I. BACKGROUND

A. The 2020 Presidential Election and January 6, 2021

While not material to the outcome, some factual background on the events leading up to and including January 6, 2021, offers context for the legal dispute here. In the months preceding the 2020 presidential election, Plaintiff declared that the only way he could lose would be if the election were "rigged." See, e.g. , Donald J. Trump, Speech at Republican National Convention Nomination Vote at 22:08 (Aug. 24, 2020) in C-SPAN, https://www.c-span.org/video/?475000-103/president-trump-speaks-2020-republican-national-convention-vote. In the months after losing the election, he repeatedly claimed that the election was rigged, stolen, and fraudulent. For example, in a December 2 speech, he alleged "tremendous voter fraud and irregularities" resulting from a late-night "massive dump" of votes. See President Donald J. Trump, Statement on 2020 Election Results at 0:39, 7:26 (Dec. 2, 2020) in C-SPAN, https://www.c-span.org/video/?506975-1/president-trump-statement-2020-election-results. He also claimed that certain votes were "counted in foreign countries," that "millions of votes were cast illegally in the swing states alone," and that it was "statistically impossible" he lost. Id. at 12:00, 14:22, 19:00.

After losing the election, Plaintiff and his supporters filed a plethora of unsuccessful lawsuits seeking to overturn the results. See, e.g. , Current Litigation , AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION: STANDING COMMITTEE ON ELECTION LAW , Apr. 30, 2021, https://www.americanbar.org/groups/public_interest/election_law/litigation/. The United States Supreme Court also denied numerous emergency applications aimed at overturning the results. Id. In response, Plaintiff tweeted that the Court was "totally incompetent and weak on the massive Election Fraud that took place in the 2020 Presidential Election." Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump), TWITTER (Dec. 26, 2020, 1:51 PM), https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/tweets-december-26-2020.¹ He continued his claim that "We won the Presidential Election, by a lot," and implored Republicans to "FIGHT FOR IT. Don't let them take it away." Id. (Dec. 18, 2020, 2:14 PM), https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/tweets-december-18-2020.

A Joint Session of Congress was scheduled to convene on January 6, 2021, to count the electoral votes of the 2020 presidential election and to officially announce the elected President, as required by the Twelfth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and the Electoral Count Act, 3 U.S.C. § 15. In the days leading up to January 6, Plaintiff began promoting a protest rally to take place hours before the Joint Session convened. On December 19, 2020, he tweeted "Statistically impossible to have lost the 2020 Election. Big protest in D.C. on January 6th. Be there, will be wild!" Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump), TWITTER (December 19, 2020, 6:42am), https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/tweets-december-19-2020. During a rally, he warned that "Democrats are trying to steal the White House ... you can't let that happen. You can't let it happen," and promised that "[w]e're going to fight like hell, I'll tell you right now." See Donald J. Trump, Remarks at Georgia U.S. Senate Campaign Event at 8:40, 14:19 (Jan. 4, 2021) in Campaign 2020 , C-SPAN, https://www.c-span.org/video/?507634-1/president-trump-campaigns-republican-senate-candidates-georgia.

On January 6, Plaintiff spoke at the rally at the Ellipse, during which he (1) repeated claims, rejected by numerous courts, that the election was "rigged" and "stolen"; (2) urged then-Vice President Pence, who was preparing to convene Congress to tally the electoral votes, "to do the right thing" by rejecting certain states’ electors and declining to certify the election for President Joseph R. Biden; and (3) told protesters to "walk down to the Capitol" to "give them the kind of pride and boldness that they need to take back our country," "we fight. We fight like hell. And if you don't fight like hell, you're not going to have a country anymore," and "you'll never take back our country with weakness." See Donald J. Trump, Rally on Electoral College Vote Certification at 3:33:04, 3:33:36, 3:37:20, 3:47:02, 3:47:22, 4:42:26, 4:41:27 (Jan. 6, 2021) in Campaign 2020 , C-SPAN, https://www.c-span.org/video/?507744-1/rally-electoral-college-vote-certification.

Shortly thereafter, the crowds surged from the rally, marched along Constitution Avenue, and commenced their siege of the Capitol.

B. The Select Committee and its Presidential Records Act Request

On June 30, 2021, the U.S. House of Representatives passed House Resolution 503, creating the Select Committee. ECF No. 5, Pl. Mot., Ex. 3, H.R. 503, § 3, 117th Cong. (2021). H.R. 503 empowers the Select Committee to (1) "investigate the facts, circumstances, and causes relating to" the January 6 attack; (2) "identify, review, and evaluate the causes of and the lessons learned from" the attack; and (3) "issue a final report to the House containing such findings, conclusions, and recommendations for corrective measures ... as it may deem necessary." Id. § 4(a). Such corrective measures may include:

[C]hanges in law, policy, procedures, rules, or regulations that could be taken—(1) to prevent future acts of violence, domestic terrorism, and domestic violent extremism, including acts targeted at American democratic institutions; (2) to improve the security posture of the United States Capitol Complex while preserving accessibility of the Capitol Complex for all Americans; and (3) to strengthen the security and resilience of the United States and American democratic institutions against violence, domestic terrorism, and domestic violent extremism.

Id. § 4(c). The resolution also authorizes the Select Committee to publish interim reports, which may include "legislative recommendations as it may deem advisable." Id. § 4(b).

The Select Committee is authorized "to require, by subpoena or otherwise, the attendance and testimony of such witnesses and the production of books, records, correspondence, memoranda, papers, and documents as it considers necessary." 47 Rule XI.2(m)(1)(B), Rules of the U.S. House of Rep., 117th Cong. (2021) ("House Rules"); see also H.R. 503, § 5(c) (unless otherwise specified, Rule XI applies to the Select Committee). Under House Rule XI:

Subpoenas for documents or testimony may be issued to any person or entity, whether governmental, public, or private, within the United States, including, but not limited to, the President, and the Vice President, whether current or former, in a personal or official capacity, as well as the White House, the Office of the President, the Executive Office of the President, and any individual currently or formerly employed in the White House, Office of the President, or Executive Office of the President.

House Rule XI.2(m)(3)(D).

On August 25, 2021, pursuant to section 2205(2)(C) of the Presidential Records Act ("PRA"), the Committee issued a document request to NARA seeking several categories of records from the Executive Office of the President and the Office of the Vice President. Compl., Ex. 1. Specifically, the Select Committee sought written communications, calendar entries, videos, photographs, or other media relating to Plaintiff's January 6 speech, the January 6...