Court Rejects Trump Bid to Block Records From House Jan. 6 Panel  

“On the record before us, former President Trump has provided no basis for this court to override President Biden’s judgment and the agreement and accommodations worked out between the Political Branches over these documents,” concluded the three-judge panel that heard the case, referring to the executive and legislative branches of the government.

“Both Branches agree that there is a unique legislative need for these documents and that they are directly relevant to the Committee’s inquiry into an attack on the Legislative Branch and its constitutional role in the peaceful transfer of power,” the judges wrote.

Lawyers for Mr. Trump didn’t respond to a request for comment. They earlier indicated they would likely appeal a judgment against the former president to the Supreme Court.

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A congressional exercise in the peaceful transfer of power devolved into deadly chaos when a pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol. Hours after the riots, Congress reconvened and certified President-elect Joe Biden’s victory. Photo: Carol Guzy/ZUMA Wire (Video from Jan. 7, 2021)

Select committee Chairman Bennie G. Thompson (D., Miss.) and Vice Chair Liz Cheney (R., Wyo.) said in a statement: “We applaud the court’s decisive ruling, which respects the select committee’s interest in obtaining White House records and the president’s judgment in allowing those records to be produced. Our work moves ahead swiftly. We will get to the truth.”

The case began earlier this year when Mr. Trump brought suit to stop an array of records from his time in office from being turned over to the House select committee. The panel was established by House lawmakers in a June vote almost entirely along party lines after Senate Republicans blocked an earlier effort to set up a bipartisan independent commission to probe the attack on the Capitol. The panel is composed of Democrats and two Republicans who have been critics of Mr. Trump, a Republican.

The House select committee has sought records related to communications about Mr. Trump’s speech to his supporters before they converged on the Capitol to try to prevent the certification of Mr. Biden’s election victory, as well as the response within the White House once violence began to unfold, among other things.

A district court in Washington ruled against Mr. Trump last month, with U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan writing: “The public interest lies in permitting—not enjoining—the combined will of the legislative and executive branches to study the events that led to and occurred on January 6, and to consider legislation to prevent such events from ever occurring again.”

The records in question belong to the U.S., not Mr. Trump personally. Lawyers representing Mr. Biden have determined that Congress should get the records and declined to assert executive privilege, a doctrine allowing the White House to shield some of its records from scrutiny to preserve the candor of advice.

Lawyers for Mr. Trump argued that a 1976 Supreme Court case, Nixon v. General Services Administration, gave former presidents some control over how records from their time in office are treated. In that decision, the court affirmed that former presidents had some legal interests in records from their time in office but stopped short in issuing any definitive guidance about how courts should consider those interests or how disputes should be resolved.

The work of the Jan. 6 committee has already prompted numerous court fights. In addition to Mr. Trump’s appeal, several of Mr. Trump’s former aides and confidants have refused to appear before the panel. Along with the contempt-of-Congress charges against former Trump adviser Steve Bannon, lawmakers have been considering contempt referrals against other officials, including former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows.

Mr. Meadows sued House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and members of the Jan. 6 committee on Wednesday after the panel indicated it would move to hold him in criminal contempt of Congress.

Write to Byron Tau at byron.tau@wsj.com