Trump Invokes Executive Privilege to Block Jan. 6 Records in Officers' Lawsuit

President Donald Trump has invoked executive privilege to resist turning over certain White House documents sought in a long-running civil suit brought by police officers injured during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

The Justice Department disclosed the privilege claim during a hearing Wednesday before U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta. The officers’ lawsuit accuses Trump of stoking the riot with inflammatory remarks and by directing supporters to the Capitol; the officers say the violence nearly disrupted the transfer of power and left about 140 officers hurt.

It is not yet clear which specific records Trump is seeking to shield. A White House spokesperson, Abigail Jackson, confirmed that the president asserted privilege over some materials that plaintiffs subpoenaed from the National Archives and Records Administration last year.

“The President asserted executive privilege over the discovery requests in this case because the overly broad requests demanded documents that were either presidential communications or communications among the president’s staff that are clearly constitutionally protected from discovery,” Abigail Jackson said in a statement.

At the hearing, Justice Department attorney Alexander Haas told the court he did not have immediate details about the volume of records being withheld or whether a privilege log has been produced; he said he would provide that information to the court in a report next week.

“My understanding is that the review is complete,” Haas told Judge Mehta. “My understanding is some portion of the records the president has asserted privilege over.”

The public subpoena—issued roughly a year ago—seeks a wide range of materials: records related to Trump’s Jan. 6 speech at the Ellipse; communications about efforts to get the president to issue statements regarding violence that day; documents about the potential for violence or efforts to overturn the 2020 election; and materials concerning the certification of electors.

Attorneys for the injured officers have complained for months about delays obtaining Trump-era White House records now held by the National Archives. The Biden administration had frequently waived executive privilege to assist investigators seeking Trump-era documents, but the administration did not respond to this particular lawsuit-related request before President Biden left office in January 2025.

Trump previously fought congressional attempts to obtain his records and took that dispute to the Supreme Court, which let stand a lower-court ruling permitting the Archives to turn over documents. Courts, however, generally give a sitting president’s privilege assertions greater weight than those of a former president—an important factor now that Trump has reasserted privilege while serving as president.

In this case, Trump has also argued he is immune from civil liability for actions taken in his official capacity and that his remarks at the Ellipse are protected by the First Amendment. In 2022, Judge Mehta declined to dismiss the cases on immunity grounds, citing evidence suggesting Trump may have known some supporters were armed and that he discouraged security screening that could have detected weapons. The D.C. Circuit in 2023 remanded aspects of the litigation to Judge Mehta to resolve factual questions about whether the former president’s conduct was official or private.

Judge Mehta said Wednesday he plans to hear additional arguments later this month on whether Trump’s actions were official or unofficial and on other outstanding issues. The court will also receive the DOJ’s forthcoming report detailing the records subject to the privilege assertion.