A US judge has ruled a congressional committee investigating the Capitol riot can access some of ex-President Donald Trump’s White House records.
Mr Trump had argued the materials were covered by executive privilege, which protects the confidentiality of some White House communications.
The inquiry is trying to find out if Mr Trump had foreknowledge of the riot.
The ruling came on the day 10 Trump aides were issued with legal summonses to testify before lawmakers.
Hundreds of Mr Trump’s supporters stormed the Capitol building and disrupted the official certification of President Joe Biden’s election victory on 6 January this year.
The House of Representatives Select Committee wants to see a trove of phone records, visitor logs and other White House documents that could shed some light on the events leading up to the attack on Congress.The former president had requested an injunction to keep the documents under wraps.
But US District Judge Tanya Chutkan ruled that the National Archives, the federal agency that holds Mr Trump’s White House records, should comply with the panel’s request.
Judge Chutkan, an Obama appointee, ruled that Mr Trump’s request for a preliminary injunction seemed to rest “on the notion that his executive power ‘exists in perpetuity'”.
