President Joe Biden has waived executive privilege on behalf of his predecessor Donald Trump on White House documents requested by a congressional committee investigating the January 6 Capitol riot.
Biden’s move sets the stage for the National Archives to share the documents with the House select committee.
‘As a part of this process, the president has determined that an assertion of executive privilege is not warranted for the first set of documents from the Trump White House that have been provided to us by the National Archives,’ White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said on Friday.
White House Counsel Dana Remu in a letter to the National Archives rejected an attempt by Trump’s lawyers to withhold the documents around his activities on the day of the insurrection.
‘President Biden has determined that an assertion of executive privilege is not in the best interests of the United States, and therefore is not justified as to any of the documents,’ Remu wrote in the letter obtained by NBC News.
Remus continued that the circumstances around the matter are ‘unique and extraordinary’.
‘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,’ she 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.’
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