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A federal appeals court has agreed to temporarily halt delivery of presidential records to a House committee probing the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, handing former President Donald Trump his first win after a series of legal losses at a lower court. 

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit said Thursday it would grant the delay, giving its judges more time to review the case. The appeals court will hold oral arguments on Nov. 30, and the case could eventually be appealed further to the U.S. Supreme Court. 

The National Archives was due to deliver a first tranche of documents to the Democratic-led House panel on Friday at 6 p.m. ET. 

With the clock winding down, the decision was in some ways expected, legal experts said. 

"Just for the D.C. Circuit to figure out that there's no grounds for a stay, these kinds of very, very short administrative stays are not unusual," said Norm Eisen, a former House impeachment lawyer who is closely following the case. 

Also, the defendants in the case — the House select committee and the National Archives — took no position on the emergency filing by Trump's legal team asking for the temporary reprieve. 

Trump's legal team had filed an emergency request with the appellate court Thursday morning to stop the transfer of the first wave of documents. They argued that a document release before oral arguments were held would destroy the confidentiality of the records prematurely. 

Trump “has the right to be heard and to seek judicial intervention should a disagreement between the incumbent and former Presidents arise regarding congressional requests and executive privilege,” Trump's lawyers said. 

The effort comes after U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan earlier this week 

Trump's claims to stop hundreds of pages from being released to the House committee. Trump's legal team quickly 

, sending the case to the appellate court. 

 His legal team also asked Chutkan for a temporary delay of the records release, but she declined, moving the fight for a short delay to the appellate court as well.

Crime, Law and Justice

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Claudia Grisales

Author

The National Archives was due to deliver a first tranche of documents to the Democratic-led House panel on Friday.

Federal appeals court temporarily halts Trump document release to Jan. 6 panel

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