“President Biden has considered the former President’s claim, and I have consulted with the Office of Legal Counsel at the Department of Justice,” Remus wrote.
“President Biden has determined that a claim of executive privilege is not in the best interest of the United States, and therefore not justified, as per documents provided to the White House on September 16, 2021 and September 23, 2021. Accordingly, President Biden does not uphold the former president’s claim of privilege.”
Remus cited his earlier letter to the National Archives, highlighting the “extraordinary events” that day. The top White House lawyer also noted that Biden directed the National Archives to provide the documents to the committee 30 days after notifying Trump, “absent any intervening court order.”
During a White House news briefing at the time, Press Secretary Jen Psaki said that “the President has determined that the first set of documents from the Trump White House does not necessarily require a claim of executive privilege that has been provided to us by the National Archives.” “
“As we have said before, this will be an ongoing process and this is the first set of documents,” she said. “And we will be evaluating questions of privilege on a case-by-case basis, but the president has also made it clear that he believes it is extremely important for both Congress and the American people to have a complete understanding of events. To prevent them from happening again that day.”
Legal experts say Biden has the final say on whether these documents are covered by executive privilege, and while the committee is headed by members of Biden’s party, Trump’s power to influence the outcome is a factor. It’s an open question.
This story has been updated with additional details on Monday.
CNN’s Evan Perez, Zachary Cohen and Caitlin Polantz contributed to this report.
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