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Washington – President Biden rejected former President Trump’s assertion of executive privilege for the first set of Trump White House documents requested by Select committee of January 6.
The White House has said it will give the panel access to federal files related to Trump’s White House and the Jan.6 insurgency, the Biden administration said on Friday.
In a letter to United States Archivist David Ferriero, White House attorney Dana Remus wrote that Mr. Biden “has determined that an assertion of executive privilege is not in the best interests of states. -United, and therefore not justified as to any of the Documents. “
The January 6 House select committee requested the documents from the National Archives in August, including all “documents and communications relating in any way to the remarks made by Donald Trump or anyone else on January 6.”
Lawyers representing Mr. Trump had asked that the documents not be disclosed to the committee under the assertion of privilege, arguing that documents and communications relating to a sitting president should be protected from public scrutiny.
But citing what it described as these “unique and extraordinary circumstances”, the White House said: “Congress has a compelling need … to understand the circumstances which led to these horrific events.”
“The documents shed light on events at the White House on and around January 6 and address the need for the select committee to understand the facts,” the letter read.
The National Archives said it received the White House letter but declined to comment further.
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said on Friday that Mr. Biden “believes it is of the utmost importance for the American people to have a full understanding of the events of that day to avoid they do not reproduce “.
But she also noted that the assessment of lien claims would be done on a case-by-case basis. It is “an ongoing process, and this is only the first set of documents,” she told reporters.
The decision paves the way for the National Archives to release a wealth of documents to the House committee. In August, he issued a blanket request to NARA and seven federal agencies. The request called for executive files regarding strategies to derail the Electoral College vote, scheduling rallies through January 6, as well as documents and communications related to what the former president knew of the results. elections and potential plans to disrupt the peace handover.
Mr Trump, who argued that executive privilege should be invoked in response to the committee’s request, said he also sent a letter to the National Archives “to defend the office of the presidency.”
“The radical left Democrats have tried the witch hunt in RUSSIA, they have tried the bogus dismissals, and now they are again trying to use Congress to persecute their political opponents,” Trump said. “Democrats are drunk on power, but this dangerous attack on our Constitution and an important legal precedent will not work.”
The Biden administration’s decision was made public shortly after a former senior Trump adviser Steve Bannon said he would not comply with a committee subpoena, citing executive privilege .
Bo Erickson contributed to this report.
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