Judge orders update from Trump team on evidence request in Jan. 6 lawsuit

A federal judge has agreed to give Donald Trump more time to obtain records from the Secret Service and Washington, D.C., police in a lawsuit brought by lawmakers.

Attorneys for both Trump and the lawmakers had previously told U.S. District judge Amit Mehta subpoenas sent to Secret Service and Metropolitan Police Department had gone unanswered for more than a month, and the judge ordered the former president's team to provide a status update on the request by next week, reported Law & Crime.

“Defendant Trump shall file a Status Report by August 29, 2024, which updates the court on his efforts to obtain records from the Secret Service and the DC Metropolitan Police Department,” Mehta ordered.

The judge had told both parties at a hearing in early August that he would reach out to the agencies to determine whether the subpoenas had been lost or if they were being ignored, but he issued the order Tuesday requiring Trump's team to update him on their efforts to obtain documents sought in the Jan. 6-related lawsuit.

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The lawsuit stems from a complaint filed by Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS), chairman of the now-defunct House select committee that investigated Trump's role in the U.S. Capitol riot, and consolidated with another suit filed by plaintiff Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) and nine other current and former House members.

The Lee-led complaint also names the Proud Boys and its imprisoned leader Enrique Tarrio as the former president's co-defendants.

The plaintiffs say the former president's use of intimidation before the Capitol riot falls outside his official role and his conduct prevented lawmakers from discharging their duties.

It's not clear what Trump or the plaintiffs are seeking in their subpoenas, but attorneys for both sides have revealed that much of the evidence they've obtained in the case has been publicly sourced.

The National Archives has produced 1,500 of 4,700 total documents so far in the case, according to the agency's attorneys during a status conference earlier this month, and the Interior Department has produced about 1,650 pages of records.