A federal judge blocked the former president Donald Trump’s attempt to subpoena documents related to the House inquiry into the US Capitol Riot of January 6, 2021. The judge ruled that it was nothing more than “fishing trip.”

Trump’s legal team and Trump had attempted to subpoena Rep. Bennie Thomson (D-Miss). The chairman of the House January 6 select committee and other government officials were questioned about allegedly missing materials from the panel’s archive.

In her order denying this subpoena, Judge Tanya Chutkan stated that “the broad scope of records that Defendant sought, and his vague descriptions of their possible relevance, resembles less a ‘good faith effort to obtain evidence’ than a ‘general ‘fishing trip’ that attempts the use of the [Rule17(c) Subpoena] for a discovery tool.”

Thompson pointed out in August that the committee had not kept records of materials not used for the panel’s public hearings or publications. This led Trump’s attorneys to wonder if they were “lost or destroyed or altered.”

Chutkan argued Trump’s request amounted a “fishing excursion.”

Thompson wrote: “The Select Committee didn’t archive temporary committee documents that weren’t elevated by Committee actions, such use in official publications or hearings, or those which did not advance its investigative activity.”

Thompson responded to allegations from Rep. Barry Loudermilk, R-Ga., that certain records were missing in an August letter.

Loudermilk, chairman of the House Subcommittee on Oversight, oversees an investigation of the work done by the committee on Jan. 6.

Bennie Thompson, a Republican from Washington State, was one of the people Trump wanted to subpoena.

The House select committee on Jan. 6, disbanded soon after it released its final report in December. AP

Trump’s request was denied, but he had also sought to subpoena Georgia Republican, as well as the archivist of National Archives and Records Administration and the Clerk of House of Representatives. He also wanted to subpoena Special Counsel to President Richard Sauber and the General Counsel of Department of Homeland Security Johnathan Meyer.

The final report of the select committee, published in December last year, accused the ex-president of being involved in a criminal, “multiple conspiracy” to overturn results of the 2020 elections.

The report said that “the central cause of the 6th January was one man: former President Donald Trump. Many others followed him.” “None the January 6th events would have occurred without him.”

Getty Images

In a second notable conclusion, the panel found that Trump, his allies, and other members of the Trump campaign engaged in over 200 acts against state legislators and state and local election officials to try and reverse the results of 2020 elections.

In August, the Republican primary frontrunner for 2024 was indicted on four counts of trying to reverse the results from the 2020 election.

Trump has pleaded not guilty to the charges. The trial will begin on March 4, 2024 in Washington DC.