Biden refuses to assert privilege over Trump documents sought by January 6
“As we’ve said previously, this will be an ongoing process and this is just the first set of documents,” she said. “And we will evaluate questions of privilege on a case-by-case basis, but the President has also been clear that he believes it to be of the utmost importance for both Congress and the American people to have a complete understanding of the events of that day to prevent them from happening again.”
The Archives did not immediately respond to CNN’s request for comment and has previously said it considers the process as outlined by the Presidential Records Act to be “deliberative until a final decision is made.”
“The documents are Trump-era White House records responsive to the select committee’s request to the archivist. And so, there is a process where the former President would have a period of time to assess executive privilege and then the current President and team would have a period of time to review that request,” Psaki said during Friday’s White House press briefing.
Psaki would not say what the form of documents were, such as phone records or visitors’ logs.
In a letter to the David Ferriero, the archivist of the United States, White House counsel Dana Remus writes that the decision to not assert executive privilege applies to an initial tranche of documents that were provided to the White House and Trump’s attorneys in September. Remus writes that there are other documents the National Archives has provided to the White House for review and a decision about invoking executive privilege on those documents has not yet been made.
Remus wrote in the letter that the request comes amid “unique and extraordinary circumstances.”
“Congress is examining an assault on our Constitution and democratic institutions provoked and fanned by those sworn to protect them, and the conduct under investigation extends far beyond typical deliberations concerning the proper discharge of the President’s constitutional responsibilities,” Remus wrote. “The constitutional protections of executive privilege should not be used to shield, from Congress or the public, information that reflects a clear and apparent effort to subvert the Constitution itself.”
The letter concluded: “We understand that the former President believes that executive privilege should be asserted with respect to a subset of the Documents. When you notify us of such an assertion, we will respond accordingly.”
Trump also sent a letter to the National Archives on Friday, arguing that approximately 40 of the documents initially requested by the committee are subject to executive privilege — a claim that conflicts with Biden’s determination.
“I hereby formally assert executive privilege over these…
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