'Monumental' legal ruling is a 'huge setback for Donald Trump': CNN legal analyst

The morning after U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan issued a 39-page ruling clearing the way for the House Jan 6th committee to receive a treasure trove of documents from the National Archives related to the Capitol insurrection despite Donald Trump's objections, CNN legal analyst Elie Honig called it "a big deal" and praised the extent of the decision that may make it hard for Trump to stop the release by Friday

With the judge writing, "Presidents are not kings, and Plaintiff is not President," the former prosecutor said the decision is a "big setback" for the former president.

"This is really a big deal," Honig began. "This is a monumental, constitutional decision and the judge gave a big win, at least for now, to the January 6th committee, a big setback to Donald Trump. The judge systematically took apart Donald Trump's arguments. First of all: executive privilege. The judge put it very bluntly, 'presidents are not kings, and plaintiff is not president.'"

"That is an incredible statement," CNN host John Berman interjected.

"The truth hurts," Honig conceded. "It is going to be generally up to the current president, not the past president to exercise executive privilege. The judge also rejected Donald Trump's argument that the committee has no legitimate legislative purpose. They said, they're Congress, they told us what it is, it's not up to you, the former president. The judge stressed the importance of the overall investigation that the committee is doing."

Watch below:

CNN 11 10 2021 06 00 09youtu.be