It’s pretty safe to say that the January 6th House Select Committee has been pretty transparent throughout their ongoing investigation into the violent, deadly Capitol insurrection. We have seen text messages. We have been kept up to date with who has and has not delivered their testimonies; who has and has not complied with congressional subpoenas. We receive regular updates from members of the panel, and the committee has already confirmed that they will begin holding public hearings in connection to their investigation and all the evidence they have collected in June.
But it seems there is one batch of information that’s crucial or somehow bad enough that even the January 6th Committee is working to keep behind closed doors.
According to a somewhat unsettling report from CNN, the January 6th House Select Committee currently has a treasure trove so to speak of key documents pertaining to Donald Trump’s former Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and his lawsuit. However, some of the legal cases have been filed under seal by the panel. And now, media outlets have begun to sue the committee in an effort to gain access to the information that they’re working to keep secret from the American public.
CNN reports that so far, a total of 18 media outlets have banded together in a lawsuit, requesting that the court force a series of secret court filings in Mark Meadows’ lawsuit to be made public. The former Trump Chief of Staff is currently suing the January 6th House Select Committee in an effort to get out of the subpoena issued for his testimony and evidence.
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Now, quite a few of these documents actually did go public, even in a lot of people didn’t realize it, in a series of late-night court filings that seemingly tried to fly under the radar. But twice now, the Meadows’ lawsuit has been filed under a court seal, and it seems no one knows why that took place either time.
Lawyers for the media outlets involved in the lawsuit that seeks to make these documents public wrote in their filing to the Washington, D.C. court, “The January 6 assault on the Capitol was a public event. The House Select Committee is making an effort to establish a public reckoning of that event. This Court should likewise conduct its work on this historic matter in full public view. The Select Committee has told the American public that transparency will be key to its work. The Press Coalition advances precisely that same public interest in transparency and accountability.”
As it stands, it still remains unclear what could be tucked away in these documents that even the January 6th Committee wants to keep tucked away. But at this rate, it certainly seems extremely serious.
You can read the full report from CNN here.
Featured image via screen capture
