Biden rejects Trump request to withhold White House records from 6 Jan. committee

The move sets up a legal showdown between the White House and Mr Trump

The White House has declined a request from former President Donald Trump to withhold documents from the House committee investigating the 6 January Capitol riots.

In a letter to Archivist of the United States David Ferriero obtained by The Independent, White House Counsel Dana Remus informed Mr Ferriero that President Joe Biden will not uphold Mr Trump’s request to use executive privilege to keep documents from the House committee investigating the 6 January attack on the Capitol.

“After my consultations with the Office of Legal Counsel at the Department of Justice, President Biden has determined that an assertion of executive privilege is not in the best interests of the United States,” Ms Remus wrote in the letter, which was first reported by NBC News.

“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.”

“These are unique and extraordinary circumstances,” Ms Remus continued, adding that the Congress “is examining an assault on our Constitution and democratic institutions provoked and fanned by those sworn to protect them”.

When Mr Trump left office on 20 January, all records produced during his administration – including any created by White House officials on 6 January – passed into the custody of the National Archives and Records Administration.

After the House select committee investigating the 6 January insurrection asked Nara to produce a large set of documents created before and on the day a mob of Mr Trump’s supporters stormed the Capitol, the agency turned them over to the White House for review. According to the law governing who can access records of past presidential administrations, the Presidential Records Act, it is Mr Biden, not Mr Trump, who has the ultimate discretion over whether the records can be released.

Although Mr Trump has indicated that he wanted the documents withheld under executive privilege — a legal doctrine that protects the privacy of communications between the president and his advisers — Ms Remus wrote that the privilege would not be used because 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 exceeds far beyond typical deliberations concerning the proper discharge of the President’s constitutional responsibilities”.

“The constitutional protections of executive privilege should not be used to shield, from Congress or the public, information that reflects and clear and apparent effort to subvert the constitution itself”.

Former President Donald Trump (AFP via Getty Images)

At a press briefing on Friday afternoon, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Mr Biden was dedicated to ensuring an event like the Capitol riots never happens again, calling it a “dark day on our democracy.”

“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.”

The committee has requested documents covering Mr Trump’s communications and actions during the “Stop the Steal” rally prior to the mob storming the Capitol building, and details of his meetings throughout the day.

Last month, Ms Psaki said Mr Biden had already decided that documents requested by the committee did not fall under executive privilege.

Mr Trump has advised four of his aides not to comply with subpoenas issued by the committee.

Dan Scavino, the president’s former social media manager, has reportedly been dodging the panel’s repeated attempts to physically serve him with a subpoena.

His former adviser Steve Bannon is also going to heed Mr Trump’s advice and refuse to comply.

Former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and Kash Patel, a White House aide who was made chief of staff to the acting defence, have also received summons to appear before the committee.