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Michelle Wu Sworn in as Boston’s First Woman Elected Mayor 

Michelle Wu was sworn in Tuesday as Boston’s first woman and first person of color elected mayor in the city’s long history. 

The swearing-in of the city’s first Asian American mayor came two weeks after Wu won the city’s mayoral election. Before Wu, Boston had elected only white men as mayor. 

“City government is special. We are the level closest to the people, so we must do the big and the small. Every streetlight, every pothole, every park and classroom, lays the foundation for greater change,” Wu said after taking the oath of office.

“After all, Boston was founded on a revolutionary promise: that things don’t have to be as they always have been. That we can chart a new path for families now, and for generations to come, grounded in justice and opportunity,” she said. 

Wu, 36, takes over for a fellow Democrat — former acting Mayor Kim Janey — who was Boston’s first woman and first Black resident to serve in, but who was not elected to, the top post. 

Wu said when she first set foot inside the cavernous Boston City Hall, she felt swallowed up by the maze of concrete hallways, checkpoints and looming counters – all reminders of why her immigrant family tried to steer clear of such spaces. 

But she said her family’s struggles eventually brought her to an internship with former Mayor Thomas Menino and ultimately a seat on the Boston City Council where, she said, she learned the ropes of city government and politics. 

“Today I know City Hall’s passageways and stairwells like my own home,” she said. 

The swearing-in means Wu will now face the daunting task of trying to make good on a slew of ambitious policy proposals that were the backbone of her campaign. 

To push back against soaring housing costs that have forced some former residents out of the city, Wu has promised to pursue rent stabilization or rent control. The biggest hurdle to that proposal is the fact that Massachusetts voters narrowly approved a 1994 ballot question banning rent control statewide. 

Another of Wu’s top campaign promises is to create a “fare-free” public transit system. Wu has said the proposal would strengthen the city’s economy, address climate change and help those who take the bus or subway to school or work. 

Like the rent control pledge, Wu can’t unilaterally do away with fares on the public transit system. Wu has said she would try to work with partners in state government to make each proposal a reality. 

In her comments Tuesday, Wu said it’s crucial to tackle the big challenges she has promised while not losing sight of the nitty-gritty of city government. 

“Not only is it possible for Boston to deliver basic city services and generational change – it is absolutely necessary in this moment,” she said. “We’ll tackle our biggest challenges by getting the small things right.” 

Wu, whose parents immigrated to the U.S. from Taiwan, grew up in Chicago and moved to Boston to attend Harvard University and Harvard Law School. She has two small children. 

Janey made brief comments before Wu was sworn in, thanking the city for the chance to serve as mayor, even for a brief period. 

“I know that Boston is in good hands, and I am so proud to call you Madam Mayor,” Janey said to Wu. 

Janey had been president of the Boston City Council before taking over as mayor, the second of the city’s three mayors this year.

She rose to the top post on an acting basis when the city’s previous elected mayor, Democrat Marty Walsh, stepped down this year to become U.S. Secretary of Labor under President Joe Biden. Janey was sworn in March 24. 

Janey attempted to use the status of the office in her run to replace Walsh, but she failed to garner enough votes to make it past the preliminary mayoral election that whittled the field down to two candidates – City Councilors Wu and Annissa Essaibi George.

Republican Governor Charlie Baker, Democratic U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren and Edward Markey and U.S. Represenative Ayanna Pressley attended the swearing-in. 

 
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Biden Touts Infrastructure Bill at Snowy, Rusty Bridge in NH

Fighting sagging poll ratings, President Joe Biden set out Tuesday on a national tour to persuade everyday Americans of the benefits of his big, just-signed infrastructure plan. First stop: a snowy, rusty bridge in New Hampshire, a state that gave him no love in last year’s presidential primaries. 

Biden left the state in February 2020 before polls had even closed on his fifth-place primary finish. But he returned as president, eager to talk up the billions in investments in upgrading America’s roads, bridges and transit systems that he signed into law Monday.

Walking across the rural New Hampshire bridge that’s been tagged a priority for repairs since 2014, Biden framed the infrastructure law in direct and human terms. He said it would have a meaningful impact here, from efficient everyday transportation to keeping emergency routes open. 

“This isn’t esoteric, this isn’t some gigantic bill — it is, but it’s about what happens to ordinary people,” he said. “Conversations around those kitchen tables that are both profound as they are ordinary: How do I cross the bridge in a snowstorm?” 

Biden hopes to use the successful new law to shift the political winds in his direction and provide fresh momentum for his broader $1.85 trillion social spending package now before Congress. 

The president held a splashy bipartisan bill-signing ceremony Monday for hundreds on the White House South Lawn, where lawmakers and union workers cheered and clapped. 

“America is moving again, and your life is going to change for the better,” Biden promised Americans.

The president and members of his Cabinet are moving, too — spreading out around the country to showcase the package. Biden himself travels Wednesday to Detroit, Michigan, to promote the new law as a source of jobs and repairs for aging roads, bridges, pipes and ports while also helping to ease inflation and supply chain woes.

“As he goes around the country, he’s really going to dig into how these issues will impact people’s everyday lives, what they talk about at their kitchen tables,” said White House press secretary Jen Psaki. 

Also this week, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan will take a tour through the South, hitting Louisiana and Texas, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland will visit Massachusetts, California and the state she represented in Congress, New Mexico, and Vice President Kamala Harris will visit Ohio, among top administration officials on the road. 

The president is pleading for patience from Americans exhausted by the pandemic and concerned about rising inflation. The White House says the infrastructure funding could begin going out within months, and they say it will have a measurable impact on Americans’ lives by helping create new, good-paying jobs. 

During his New Hampshire stop Tuesday, Biden said there were 215 bridges deemed “structurally unsafe” and 700 miles of highway in the state listed in poor condition, which he said costs residents heavily each year in gas and repairs.

In addition to speeding repairs to roads and bridges, Biden touted the law’s investments in upgrading public transit and trains, replacing lead pipes and expanding access to broadband internet. The law, he said, is estimated to create an extra 2 million jobs a year, and he insisted it also would improve supply chain bottlenecks that have contributed to rising prices for consumers by providing funding for America’s ports, airports and freight rail. 

On Tuesday, the president visited a bridge that carries state Route 175 over the Pemigewasset River. Built in 1939, the bridge has been on the state’s “red list” since 2014 because of its poor condition. Another bridge over the river was added in 2018.

“This may not seem like a big bridge, but it saves lives and solves problems,” Biden said. 

New Hampshire’s Republican Gov. Chris Sununu, who planned to greet Biden at the airport, sent a letter to the president Tuesday asking him to work with Congress to earmark even more infrastructure funding for the state. He also urged Biden to address supply chain issues, workforce shortages and the rising cost of construction materials. 

“Ensuring that roads get built, bridges get repaired, and drinking water gets improved will be even more challenging given the economic challenges Washington seems oblivious to,” Sununu said. 

Under the funding formula in the bill, New Hampshire will receive $1.1 billion for federal-aid highways and $225 million for bridges, the White House said.

The infrastructure bill overall contains $110 billion to repair aging highways, bridges and roads. According to the White House, 173,000 total miles or nearly 280,000 kilometers of U.S. highways and major roads and 45,000 bridges are in poor condition. The law has almost $40 billion for bridges, the single largest dedicated bridge investment since the construction of the national highway system, according to the Biden administration. 

Many of the particulars of how the money is spent will be up to state governments. Biden has named former New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu as the liaison between the White House and the states to help ensure things run smoothly and to prevent waste and fraud.

 
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US Congress Restarts Push for China Legislation by Year’s End  

Lawmakers on Capitol Hill are renewing a push to pass legislation that would boost U.S. competition with China, amid rising concerns about the global supply chain.     

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Tuesday the long-stalled U.S. Innovation and Competition Act (USICA) would be added to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), the massive annual defense spending bill that needs to be passed by the end of the year.   

“A generation ago we used to produce about a third of the world’s chip supply – now fewer than 12% are made in America while other countries have lapped us, particularly China. This hurts American workers, American consumers and American national security. We should pass USICA this year – and it’s a bipartisan bill – so we can strengthen domestic chip production,” Schumer said Tuesday in remarks on the Senate floor.   

The USICA passed the U.S. Senate by a 68-32 vote in June but has yet to receive a vote in the U.S. House of Representatives. If passed, the measure would provide $190 billion in funding aimed at addressing areas of competition with China, including semiconductor production, technology security and training for the U.S. workforce. The bill would also provide for automatic sanctions on Chinese companies committing intellectual theft or cyberattacks in the United States. 

Sources told Reuters this week that China is actively lobbying against the legislation, sending letters to U.S. executives urging them to lobby Congress to alter or drop those bills.   

In a statement released in June when the USICA passed the U.S. Senate, the Foreign Affairs Committee of China’s National People’s Congress (NPC), said “The bill is full of Cold War mentality and ideological prejudice … It slanders China’s development path and its domestic and foreign policies.”   

The Biden administration has expressed support for the measures. But any version of the NDAA passed in the U.S. Senate would still have to be reconciled and passed in the U.S. House before heading to the White House to be signed into law.   

Addressing U.S. competition with China is one of the few areas of broad bipartisan support on Capitol Hill, although lawmakers differ on the approach. 

Following President Biden’s virtual meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping this week, ranking Senate Foreign Relations Committee member Senator Jim Risch said in a statement, “While President Biden used this meeting to raise concerns regarding Beijing’s unfair trade and economic practices and the importance of transparency in global health, it’s past time for concrete results from Beijing. If President Xi actually wants a cooperative relationship with the United States, then he must stop threatening Taiwan.”   

Republican Senator Marco Rubio filed dozens of amendments to the NDAA addressing U.S. competition with China this week, including measures that would strengthen the U.S. relationship with Taiwan, provide funding for analysis of Chinese economic initiatives in developing African nations and clear the way for sanctions on Chinese individuals involved in reclaiming disputed areas in the South China Sea.   

There is strong bipartisan support in the U.S. Senate for another measure that would provide U.S. support for Taiwan’s admission into the Inter-American Development Bank as a non-borrowing member.   

“Despite Beijing’s reckless and hostile tactics to deny it participation on the world stage, Taiwan has proven a formative and effective partner across the Western hemisphere,” said Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Menendez in a bipartisan October 27 statement supporting the legislation.   

Earlier this week, six U.S. lawmakers visited Taiwan as part of a congressional visit to the island whose status has proved to be a constant irritant in U.S.-Chinese relations. China condemned the use of an American military aircraft for the visit.
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Biden Signs $1 Trillion Infrastructure Legislation

President Joe Biden on Monday signed a trillion-dollar package for infrastructure improvements across the United States that will repair deteriorating roads and bridges, improve rail service, expand public transportation and widen broadband internet service. 

Congressional lawmakers, state governors and city mayors – both Democrats and Republicans – watched Biden’s signing ceremony just outside the White House on a cool, sunny fall afternoon. 

Biden’s signature on one of his key legislative proposals marked a rarity in politically fractious Washington: passage of a major initiative on a bipartisan basis. Nineteen Republicans joined all 50 Democrats to approve the measure in the Senate, while 13 Republicans voted for it in the House of Representatives even as six Democrats opposed it. 

“Democrats and Republicans can come together and produce real results,” Biden said ahead of signing the legislation. “Today, we’re getting it done. America is on the move again.”

Even so, passage of the bill was politically perilous for Republican lawmakers, with some Republican congressional leaders opposed to handing the Democratic president a legislative win when his approval ratings have tumbled in the face of a three-decade-high increase in consumer prices. 

Former President Donald Trump assailed Republican lawmakers who voted for the infrastructure spending even though he also favored new public construction in the country when he was in the White House but was unable to get it through Congress. He said Republicans who voted for Biden’s bill “should be ashamed of themselves.” 

Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, a vocal Biden opponent, characterized Republicans who favored the legislation as traitors and tweeted out their phone numbers.

Some opponents of the legislation called in death threats to Republican lawmakers who favored it. 

Biden is also in the midst of a protracted debate over his nearly $2 trillion “human infrastructure” legislation that would be the government’s biggest expansion of the social safety net for Americans in five decades. The House is expected to vote on the measure later this week, and, if it is approved, send it to the Senate, where its fate is uncertain. 

No Republican congressional lawmakers support the social safety legislation, meaning Democrats will have to approve it on their own. 

The infrastructure bill includes $110 billion in funding for roads, bridges and other major construction projects, along with $39 billion to modernize public transit and make it more accessible to the disabled and elderly. 

The measure includes $50 billion to improve infrastructure against the ravages of climate change and cyberattacks. Another $55 billion will replace old lead pipes still used in some U.S. drinking water systems and $65 billion will develop broadband infrastructure. 

The legislation calls for $21 billion to remove pollution from soil and groundwater, job creation in energy communities, and a focus on economic and environmental justice. The legislation includes $73 billion to update and expand the power grid. 

 
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Vermont Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy Won’t Seek Reelection

Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, the longest-serving member of the Senate, said Monday he will not seek reelection in 2022 to the seat he has held for eight terms.

Leahy, 81, said he and his wife, Marcelle, have concluded that “it is time to pass the torch to the next Vermonter who will carry on this work for our great state. It’s time to come home.”

The announcement marks the end of a political era. First elected to the Senate in 1974, Leahy is the last of the so-called Watergate babies who were elected after President Richard Nixon’s resignation. During his nearly half-century in the Senate, Vermont shifted from one of the most solidly Republican states in the country to one of its most progressive.

That transition will be critical to Democrats who hope to maintain control of the Senate after next year’s midterm elections. With the chamber evenly divided, the party can’t afford to lose any of its current seats.

Leahy will leave the Senate with a record of promoting human rights, working to ban landmines and protect individual privacy rights. He has been a champion of the environment, especially of Lake Champlain, the body of water that separates northern Vermont from upstate New York.

By retiring and creating the first vacancy in Vermont’s congressional delegation since 2006, Leahy sets up a scramble to succeed him among a number of the state’s up-and-coming politicians.

Matthew Dickinson, a political science professor at Middlebury College, said a likely choice to succeed Leahy would be Democratic Rep. Peter Welch, the state’s lone member of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Dickinson said that Welch’s fundraising is going well and noted that the 74-year-old Welch has enjoyed consistently high approval ratings.

“I think he would be the logical candidate, and that would set up the musical chairs about who replaces him in Congress,” Dickinson said.

It’s uncertain which Republican Party candidates might seek their party’s nomination to run in the November election. It’s unclear whether Phil Scott, the state’s Republican governor who frequently criticized former President Donald Trump and has called for civility in politics, would be interested in running. 

Leahy is chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee and the senior-most member of both the Senate Judiciary and Agriculture committees.

Earlier this year, Leahy, during his third stint as president pro tem of the Senate, presided over the second impeachment trial of then-President Donald Trump.

In September, Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, the longest-serving Republican senator, said he would seek an eighth term in 2022, giving the party more confidence in holding that seat as it fights to overtake the Democrats’ one-vote advantage thanks to Vice President Kamala Harris’ role as tiebreaker.

Leahy said he was proud of his service to his state and his work to make a difference for residents of Vermont.

“I know I have been there for my state when I was needed most. I know I have taken our best ideas and helped them grow. I brought Vermont’s voice to the United States Senate and Vermont values across the world,” he said. 
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Former US Congressman Beto O’Rourke to Challenge Texas Governor Abbott

Beto O’Rourke, the former U.S. congressman from Texas whose surprisingly close 2018 loss to Senator Ted Cruz made him a Democratic star, said on Monday he will challenge Republican Greg Abbott in next year’s race for governor of the state.

O’Rourke has been seen as his party’s best option for the 2022 gubernatorial race even after his bid for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination failed to garner much support amid a crowded field of candidates.

No Democrat has won a statewide race in Texas, the second most populous U.S. state, in three decades. Abbott, who is facing two Republican challengers as well, has amassed an enormous campaign war chest, with more than $55 million as of June.

O’Rourke has spent much of the past year criticizing Abbott for his handling of several crises, including the COVID-19 pandemic and a fierce winter storm that caused the state’s electric grid to fail and left hundreds of Texans dead.

In an announcement video, O’Rourke blamed the state’s Republican-controlled government for mishandling the storm and argued that it was symptomatic of a larger issue.

“Those in position of public trust have stopped listening to, serving and paying attention to and trusting the people of Texas,” O’Rourke said
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White House Sets Low Expectations Ahead of Biden-Xi Meeting

The White House is setting expectations low ahead of Monday’s virtual meeting between U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the evening meeting Washington time will focus on managing the terms of competition between the two rivals but is unlikely to end with resolution of differences.

“The two leaders will discuss ways to responsibly manage the competition” between the two countries “as well as ways to work together where our interests align,” Psaki said in a statement released Friday.

“Throughout, President Biden will make clear U.S. intentions and priorities and be clear and candid about our concerns with the PRC,” Psaki said, referring to Beijing by the acronym for the People’s Republic of China.

The U.S. sees China as its strategic competitor, with Beijing seeking to grow its military and economic influence around the world. In the lead-up to the meeting, however, rhetoric from both sides has softened.

In another positive step, U.S. and China, the world’s two biggest CO2 emitters, unexpectedly announced at the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland, that they would work together to slash emissions and meet regularly to address the climate crisis.

Patrick Cronin, Asia-Pacific security chair at the Hudson Institute, told VOA, “Xi Jinping and President Biden both want to find some stability from which to work to cooperate, where possible, to compete, and even to confront, where necessary. None of that’s going to stop going forward, but I think the tone is going to be better through the Olympics.”

Still, differences over human rights for the people of Hong Kong and Uyghur minorities will likely remain unresolved, as well as issues of trade, freedom of navigation, and Beijing’s military buildup in the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait.

Robert Daly, the director of the Wilson Center’s Kissinger Institute on China and the United States, told VOA, “We can expect President Biden to say that America still abides by the ‘One China’ policy, and Xi Jinping to say that America has been trampling over that policy.

“So neither leader, as I said, has changed his goals. Each seems to be searching for a formula, the words that will convince the other that all of their own actions are OK. And that is unlikely to happen.”

Ahead of their meeting, the two leaders Friday attended a virtual summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, or APEC, where Xi warned against letting tensions in the region turn into a cold war.

”We should be forward-looking, move ahead and reject practices of discrimination and exclusion of others. Attempts to draw ideological lines or form small circles on geopolitical grounds are bound to fail,” Xi said. He was referring to U.S. efforts to strengthen its partnerships in the region, including the Quad grouping with India, Japan and Australia.

Biden, Xi and leaders of APEC member economies concluded their virtual meeting agreeing on a series of commitments regarding the coronavirus pandemic, economic recovery and climate change mitigation.

Following the meeting chaired by New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, leaders adopted a declaration under the theme of “Join, Work, Grow. Together,” which highlights policy actions to respond to COVID-19.

According to organizers, the declaration “lays out commitments in accelerating economic recovery and achieving sustainable and inclusive growth, including further actions in tackling climate change, empowering groups with untapped economic potential, supporting the region’s micro, small and medium enterprises and addressing the digital divide.” 
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Bannon Indicted on Contempt Charges for Defying House Subpoena

Steve Bannon, a longtime ally of former President Donald Trump, was indicted Friday on two counts of criminal contempt of Congress after he defied a subpoena from the House committee investigating the January 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

The Justice Department said Bannon, 67, was indicted on one count for refusing to appear for a deposition last month and the other for refusing to provide documents in response to the committee’s subpoena. He is expected to surrender to authorities on Monday and will appear in court that afternoon, a law enforcement official told the AP. The person was granted anonymity to discuss the case.

The indictment came as a second witness, former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, defied his own subpoena from the committee on Friday and as Trump has escalated his legal battles to withhold documents and testimony about the insurrection. The chairman of the January 6 panel, Mississippi Representative Bennie Thompson, said he would recommend contempt charges against Meadows next week. 

If the House votes to hold Meadows in contempt, that recommendation could also be sent to the Justice Department for a possible indictment. 

“Mr. Meadows, Mr. Bannon and others who go down this path won’t prevail in stopping the Select Committee’s effort getting answers for the American people about January 6th, making legislative recommendations to help protect our democracy, and helping ensure nothing like that day ever happens again,” Democrat Thompson and the vice chairwoman of the panel, Republican Representative Liz Cheney of Wyoming, said in a statement.

The indictment is a victory for House Democrats, who saw dozens of Trump officials decline testimony and defy subpoenas during his presidency. The charges support the authority of Congress to investigate the executive branch and signal potential consequences for those who refuse to cooperate. 

Commitment to rule of law

Attorney General Merrick Garland said Bannon’s indictment reflects the Justice Department’s “steadfast commitment” to ensuring that the department adheres to the rule of law. Each count carries a minimum of 30 days of jail and as long as a year behind bars. 

The indictment alleges that Bannon didn’t appear before the committee as subpoenaed or produce required documents. It says he also didn’t communicate with the committee in any way from the time he received the subpoena on September 24 until October 7, when his lawyer sent a letter, seven hours after the documents were due. 

Bannon, who worked at the White House at the beginning of the Trump administration and currently serves as host of the conspiracy-minded “War Room” podcast, is a private citizen who “refused to appear to give testimony as required by a subpoena,” the indictment says.

Bannon’s attorney did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment. When Bannon declined to appear for his deposition in October, his attorney said the former Trump adviser had been directed by a lawyer for Trump citing executive privilege not to answer questions.

Officials in both Democratic and Republican administrations have been held in contempt by Congress, but criminal indictments for contempt are exceedingly rare. The most recent notable examples of criminal penalties for not testifying before Congress date to the 1970s, including when President Richard Nixon’s aide G. Gordon Liddy was convicted of misdemeanor charges for refusing to answer questions about his role in the Watergate scandal. 

‘Sharp legal dispute’

Meadows defied his subpoena on Friday after weeks of discussions with the committee. His lawyer said that Meadows has a “sharp legal dispute” with the panel as Trump has claimed executive privilege over his testimony, as he had with Bannon’s.

The former Republican congressman’s refusal to comply comes amid the legal battles between the committee and Trump. The former president has claimed privilege over documents and interviews the lawmakers are demanding. The White House said in a letter Thursday that President Joe Biden would waive any privilege that would prevent Meadows from cooperating with the committee, prompting his lawyer to say Meadows wouldn’t comply.

“Legal disputes are appropriately resolved by courts,” said the lawyer, George Terwilliger. “It would be irresponsible for Mr. Meadows to prematurely resolve that dispute by voluntarily waiving privileges that are at the heart of those legal issues.”

As the sitting president, Biden has so far waived most of Trump’s assertions of privilege over documents. U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan has backed Biden’s position, noting in one ruling this week that “Presidents are not kings, and Plaintiff is not President.”

The panel’s proceedings and attempts to gather information have been delayed as Trump appealed Chutkan’s rulings. On Thursday, a federal appeals court temporarily blocked the release of some of the White House records the panel is seeking, giving that court time to consider Trump’s arguments.

Scores of witnesses

Still, the House panel is continuing its work, and lawmakers have already interviewed more than 150 witnesses so far as they attempt to build the most comprehensive record yet of how a violent mob of Trump’s supporters broke into the Capitol and temporarily halted the certification of Biden’s victory.

The committee has subpoenaed almost three dozen people, including former White House staffers, Trump allies who strategized about how to overturn his defeat and people who organized the giant rally on the National Mall the morning of January 6. While some, like Meadows and Bannon, have balked, others have spoken to the panel and provided documents.

Like Bannon, Meadows is a key witness for the panel. He was Trump’s top aide in the time between Trump’s loss in the November election and the insurrection, and was one of several people who pressured state officials to try to overturn the results. He was also by Trump’s side during much of the time, and he could provide information about what the former president was saying and doing during the attack. 
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Court Temporarily Delays Release of Trump’s January 6 Records

A federal appeals court on Thursday temporarily blocked the release of White House records sought by a U.S. House committee investigating the January 6 insurrection, granting — for now — a request from former President Donald Trump.

The administrative injunction issued by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit effectively bars until the end of this month the release of records that were to be turned over Friday. The appeals court set oral arguments in the case for November 30.

The stay gives the court time to consider arguments in a clash between the former president, whose supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol on January 6, and President Joe Biden and Congress, who have pushed for a thorough investigation of the riot. It delays the House committee from reviewing records that lawmakers say could shed light on the events leading up to the insurrection and Trump’s efforts to delegitimize an election he lost.

The National Archives, which holds the documents, says they include call logs, handwritten notes, and a draft executive order on “election integrity.”

Biden waived executive privilege on the documents. Trump then went to court, arguing that as a former president, he still had the right to exert privilege over the records and that releasing them would damage the presidency in the future.

U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan on Tuesday rejected those arguments, noting in part, “Presidents are not kings, and Plaintiff is not President.” She again denied an emergency motion by Trump on Wednesday.

In their emergency filing to the appeals court, Trump’s lawyers wrote that without a stay, Trump would “suffer irreparable harm through the effective denial of a constitutional and statutory right to be fully heard on a serious disagreement between the former and incumbent President.”

The November 30 arguments will take place before three judges nominated by Democratic presidents: Patricia Millett and Robert Wilkins, nominated by former President Barack Obama, and Ketanji Brown Jackson, an appointee of Biden.

Given the case’s magnitude, whichever side loses before the circuit court is likely to eventually appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The White House on Thursday also notified a lawyer for Mark Meadows, Trump’s former chief of staff, that Biden would waive any executive privilege that would prevent Meadows from cooperating with the committee, according to a letter obtained by The Associated Press.

The committee has subpoenaed Meadows and more than two dozen other people as part of its investigation. Meadows’ lawyer, George Terwilliger, issued a statement in response saying Meadows “remains under the instructions of former President Trump to respect long-standing principles of executive privilege.”

“It now appears the courts will have to resolve this conflict,” Terwilliger said.
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