The federal judge set to preside over former President Donald Trump’s election interference trial has rejected his attempt to subpoena records from the House Jan. 6 committee which investigated the 2021 attack on the U.S. capitol. The former president had attempted to subpoena for what his team says are “missing” records from the committee. In a ruling on Monday, Nov. 27, U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan called that attempt a “fishing expedition.”
“The broad scope of the records that Defendant seeks, and his vague description of their potential relevance, resemble less ‘a good faith effort to obtain identified evidence’ than they do ‘a general ‘fishing expedition.’”
Judge Chutkan
Trump’s legal team had planned to subpoena several people involved in the committee’s investigation, including the U.S. archivist and the clerk of the House of Representatives, among others, as they argued that there is “significant overlap between the select committee’s investigation and this case.”
“The broad scope of the records that Defendant seeks, and his vague description of their potential relevance, resemble less ‘a good faith effort to obtain identified evidence’ than they do ‘a general ‘fishing expedition,’” Judge Chutkan wrote.
Monday’s ruling, Nov. 27, states that the federal officials will not have to hand over any records for the trial. The judge added that Trump’s team had been given transcripts of interviews from the committee’s investigation and did not illustrate how the records outlined in their request would be relevant to Trump’s defense.
It is just one of the four criminal cases the former president faces and will likely be the first to go to trial. Trump has been charged with unlawfully trying to overturn the 2020 election results; he has pleaded not guilty. Jury selection is set for March 4.