Trump speaker sues panel members investigating Jan. 6 riot

The spokesperson for former US President Donald Trump has taken legal action against lawmakers investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riots that left several people dead.

Taylor Budowich on Friday sued the House committee investigating the attack on Capitol Hill, trying to block it from gaining access to Trump's financial records.

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The legal team of former US President Donald Trump has pleaded with a federal court to block the Jan. 6 select committee

In addition to the Jan. 6 committee and its nine individual members, Budowich also sued House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and J.P. Morgan Chase Bank.

Budowich said he had already provided the committee with “more than 1,700 pages of documents“ and “roughly four hours of sworn testimony”, claiming the material that was provided to the House's select committee should have precluded the subpoena for his records.

'The Select Committee acts absent any valid legislative power and threatens to violate longstanding principles of separation of powers by performing a law enforcement function absent authority to do so,' the complaint reads.  

'Mr. Budowich has not been afforded the opportunity to review the subpoena at issue in order to ascertain the extent or scope of information and records requested; moreover, the Select Committee has dispensed with all procedural rules, failed to accord due process, and neglected to provide formal notice.' 

“The Select Committee wrongly seeks to compel Mr. Budowich’s financial institution to provide private banking information to the Select Committee that it lacks the lawful authority to seek and to obtain,” Budowich’s suit argued.

He filed the lawsuit in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia along with Conservative Strategies, Inc., which is described as “a California for profit corporation.” Budowich is identified in the filing as its “sole owner.”

Trump lawyers urge appeals court to block access to important docs

Donald Trump

The select committee of the House of Representatives, which is chaired by Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), is seeking information from Budowich pertaining to the source of the funds for the planning and promotion of the Jan. 6 rally that directly preceded the Capitol rioting.

Democratic lawmakers believe that the deadly Jan. 6 attack on Capitol Hill was an insurrection at the instigation of Trump.

US House committee probing Jan. 6 riot subpoenas four key Trump aides

In letters addressed individually to the four men, committee chair Bennie Thompson explains further why they are believed to have key information related to the Jan. 6 siege.

Trump was impeached in 2021 for the second time by the US House of Representatives on the charge of inciting the Jan. 6 riot by telling his followers in a speech to "fight like hell."  He was previously impeached for abuse of power in 2020.

Both times, the then-Republican-led Senate, acquitted Trump of the charges brought against him.

On Jan. 6, four people died in the violence, including a Capitol police officer who had been attacked by protesters. In addition, four police officers, who took part in the defense of the Capitol building on Jan. 6, later took their own lives, raising the death related to the incident toll to 8.

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