Biden refuses to invoke executive privilege on Trump documents sought by Jan 6 committee

The White House on Friday, 8 October, confirmed that US President Joe Biden will not invoke executive privilege to shield Donald Trump-era documents sought by a House committee’s investigation into the January 6 insurrection at the US Capitol. While speaking to reporters, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said that Biden declined to assert privilege over documents pertaining to the Trump administration. Psaki added that the US 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 by the National Archives. 

During the White House press briefing, Psaki said, “As we've said previously, this will be an ongoing process and this is just the first set of documents. 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.”

According to CNN, the National Archives has already identified documents in response to the committee request. They have also shared the documents with Trump’s legal team and the White house. On Friday, Psaki informed that the documents are Trump-ear White House records responsive to the select committee’s request to the archivist, however, she did not say what the form of documents were, such as phone records or visitors’ logs. 

"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 added. 

Ex-White House aide refuses to comply 

Now, the House Committee investigating the January 6 insurrection has the momentous task of sorting through the details and obtaining documents and testimony from witnesses who may or may not be cooperative. Trump, who told his supporters to “fight like hell” the morning of the horrifying incident and who has repeatedly defended the rioters who beat the police and broke into the Capitol building, is trying to block Congress from learning more. Biden, on the other hand, has so far sided with House Democrats, who have asked for thousands of pages of documents and subpoenaed witnesses connected to the former President. 

In a separate development, a lawyer for Steve Bannon has said that the former White House aide won’t comply with the House committee’s probe because Trump is asserting executive privilege. Two other aides, former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and former Pentagon aide Kash Patel, on the other hand, are engaging with the committee on their subpoenas. Meanwhile, it is to mention that the House Committee has subpoenaed 13 other individuals connected to the planning of January 6 and set deadlines for documents and interviews later this month. 

(With inputs from AP)