MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
To other news - in a blow to former President Trump, the Supreme Court this evening rejected his request to block the release of some of his White House documents. This means the House Committee investigating the January 6 attack on the Capitol will get the records it had sought from the National Archives. The decision comes as the committee is moving closer in to former President Trump's inner circle.
The panel is now pursuing phone records for Trump's son, Eric, and Kimberly Guilfoyle, who is engaged to Donald Trump Jr. And it marks the first public reporting of the committee seeking records from the former first family. NPR congressional reporter Claudia Grisales has more.
CLAUDIA GRISALES, BYLINE: They were part of an all-star lineup at former President Trump's January 6 rally at the Ellipse.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
ERIC TRUMP: Have some backbone. Show some fight.
KIMBERLY GUILFOYLE: Liberty-loving patriots that will not let them steal this election.
GRISALES: That's Trump's son, Eric Trump, and Kimberly Guilfoyle, fiancee to Donald Trump Jr. Soon, the attack on the Capitol followed, and now Eric Trump and Guilfoyle are the latest targets in a congressional investigation. The chairman of the House select committee looking into the deadly siege, Chairman Bennie Thompson, recently talked to NPR about the efforts.
BENNIE THOMPSON: Their records have been requested. We've not gotten it yet.
GRISALES: Thompson is confirming CNN reporting that the phone records have been requested, and now it is time for the panel to wait. He says the two new targets could have the answers to critical questions in the investigation.
THOMPSON: The whole effort is to see what people were doing on - around January 6, you know, who they were talking to, that kind of thing. I mean, that's important.
GRISALES: Eric Trump told NPR the effort was, quote, "a witch hunt" and said the committee is welcome to review his phone records. Guilfoyle's lawyer, Joseph Tacopina, says he knows nothing about a subpoena for his client's phone records, but also says it's of no consequence to Guilfoyle because she has nothing to hide. But Thompson reiterates that these latest requests are just part of a long list of names of interest to the panel.
THOMPSON: If it appears that those names would have benefit to the investigation, we'll make that request.
GRISALES: And with the committee aiming to wrap up its investigation in the coming months, that means more members of the Trump family could learn of new requests as well soon.
Claudia Grisales, NPR News, the Capitol. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
