President Joe Biden waived executive privilege on White House visitor logs from the Trump administration.
White House counsel Dana Remus told the National Archives and Records Administration to provide the documents to the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot on Capitol Hill within the next 15 days.
TRUMP LAWYER TURNS OVER 8,000 DOCUMENTS TO JAN. 6 COMMITTEE BUT SEEKS TO WITHHOLD 11,000
“The President 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 these records and portions of records,” Remus said in a letter Tuesday. “The records in question are entries in visitor logs showing appointment information for individuals who were processed to enter the White House complex, including on January 6, 2021.”
Former President Donald Trump claimed executive privilege over some of the visitor log documents the Jan. 6 committee requested, according to Remus’s letter.
Trump previously claimed executive privilege over other key White House documents the Jan. 6 committee requested. These included over 700 pages of call logs, emails, and other documents. Biden waived executive privilege over those documents on Oct. 8.
Last month, the Supreme Court also rejected Trump’s attempt to block NARA from turning those documents over to the Jan. 6 committee. Lower courts ruled that Biden’s waiver outweighed Trump’s claim of executive privilege.
The Jan. 6 committee is trying to develop a comprehensive account of Trump’s actions during the riot. Remus said the visitor logs will show “appointment information for individuals who were processed” to enter the White House. He asked NARA to refrain from sharing information from the logs that was designated as “national-security sensitive” without consulting the White House and said the committee agreed to accept the records with Social Security numbers and birth date information removed.
The Trump administration kept the visitor logs private starting in 2017 due to national security concerns, the New York Times reported. Both the Biden and Obama administrations voluntarily released most of their visitor logs to the public, with exceptions for logs that had national security concerns, Remus said in the letter.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
It is unclear if Trump will head to court to attempt to block the visitor logs from being turned over. The Washington Examiner reached out to NARA for comment but did not receive a response.
Trump has faced scrutiny in recent weeks for his handling of White House documents. In mid-January, NARA collected 15 boxes worth of White House documents and mementos from his Mar-a-Lago resort that were supposed to be turned over to the agency following his White House exit. Members of the Jan. 6 committee reportedly sought documents from his administration that no longer existed because they were shredded, a source told the Washington Post.
