An appeals court rejected Donald Trump’s bid to keep his White House documents shielded from the House select committee, and MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough said the ruling was especially “harsh” to the twice-impeached one-term president’s efforts to undo his election loss.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit unanimously upheld a lower court’s opinion that held President Joe Biden’s decision to allow the documents’ release, and the the “Morning Joe” host noted that the three-judge panel bluntly linked Trump to the Jan. 6 insurrection in their 68-page ruling.
“It’s a long document, also a very harsh document when you look at what the court says,” Scarborough said. “Donald Trump is absolutely skewered and this claim of executive privilege just tossed aside with utter contempt by, unanimously, by the three-judge panel for the D.C. Circuit. Even though we know what the truth is, it’s so obvious to anyone who wasn’t in that bubble and who don’t believe the lies and the conspiracy theories and the gaslighting. It’s still quite striking when you read words like those written yesterday by the D.c. Circuit just calling this what it was.”
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“Looking again a little closer at the D.C. Circuit’s decision, they say, ‘Lives were lost, blood was shed; portions of the Capitol building were badly damaged; and the lives of members of the House and Senate, as well as aides, staffers, and others who were working in the building, were endangered,'” he added. “‘There is directly linkage between the former president and the events on that day’ — a harsh condemnation.”
Trump may appeal that ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court, but co-host Willie Geist said his case appears weak.
“It was, as you say, detailed, specific and unanimous from this panel,” Geist said. “We’ll see what happens next with a possible appeal, but for now Donald Trump has to turn over whatever documents he has.”
Image: DOD photo by Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Dominique A. Pineiro 4