Liz Cheney asks if Trump organized attack on Capitol 1:13
(CNN) -
President Joe Biden has once again refused to assert executive privilege over more documents that former President Donald Trump has tried to keep out of the reach of the commission investigating the Jan.6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. USA.
According to a letter obtained by CNN, White House Counselor Dana Remus informed National Archivist David Ferriero on Monday that Biden would not assert his privilege on additional materials that Trump requested remain secret as a matter of executive privilege.
The former president has already filed a lawsuit to prevent the National Archives, the custodian of his administration's White House records, from turning over documents to Congress that he believes are under privilege, and the most recent documents will likely become part of that. claim.
The National Archives will begin turning over the records to the House of Representatives on November 12, unless Trump obtains a court order.
"President Biden has considered the assertion of the former president and I have consulted with the Office of the General Counsel of the Department of Justice," Remus wrote.
"President Biden has determined that an assertion of executive privilege is not in the best interests of the United States and is therefore not warranted, according to documents provided to the White House on September 16, 2021 and September 23. September 2021. Consequently, President Biden does not defend the former president's claim of privilege. "
Watch the assault on the Capitol from the middle of the crowd 0:42
Remus cited his earlier letter to the National Archives highlighting the "extraordinary events" of that day.
The senior White House attorney also noted that Biden instructs the National Archives to provide the documents to the commission 30 days after notifying Trump, "without any intervening court order."
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The White House had informed the National Archives earlier this month that it would not enforce executive privilege on an initial batch of documents requested by the Jan.6 commission.
During a press conference at the White House at the time, press secretary Jen Psaki said that "the president has determined that an assertion of executive privilege is unwarranted for the first set of Trump White House documents that we have provided National Archives ".
"As we said earlier, this will be an ongoing process and this is only the first set of documents," he said.
"And we will assess the issues of privilege on a case-by-case basis, but the President has also made it clear that he believes it is of the utmost importance for Congress and the American people to have a full understanding of the events of that day to prevent them from happening again."
As part of the House Select Committee's extensive investigation, the panel has sent requests for information to various federal agencies.
The commission specifically requested "all documents and communications within the White House" from January 6, including logs of calls, hours and meetings with senior officials and outside advisers, including Rudy Giuliani.
Legal experts say Biden has the final say on whether these documents are covered by executive privilege, and considering the committee is led by members of Biden's party, Trump's power to influence the outcome is an open question.
CNN's Evan Perez, Zachary Cohen, and Katelyn Polantz contributed to this report.
Assault on the Capitol