Biden White House wants to release information about what Trump and his aides were doing during Jan 6 Capitol attack to House committee
President Joe Biden's White House will likely comply with requests for information about what former President Donald Trump and his aides were doing during the January 6 Capitol attack - setting up a legal battle with the ex-president.
The Washington Post reported Thursday that the White House wants to err on the side of disclosure, according to two unnamed sources, and hand over documents to the House select committee that is probing the events of January 6.
Trump has said he will claim 'executive privilege' to block requests from Congress for information about the insurrection.
President Joe Biden's White House will likely comply with requests for information about what former President Donald Trump and his aides were doing during the January 6 Capitol attack
Former President Donald Trump, seen speaking at the rally preceding the January 6 Capitol attack, said he will claim 'executive privilege' to block Congressional requests for information on what he was doing that day
Supporters of former President Donald Trump ransacked the Capitol Building on January 6 - which is now being investigated by a House select committee
'The highly partisan, Communist-style "select committee" has put forth an outrageously broad records request that lacks both legal precedent and legislative merit,' Trump spokesman Taylor Budowich told The Post. 'Executive privilege will be defended, not just on behalf of President Trump and his administration, but also on behalf of the Office of the President of the United States and the future of our nation.'
White House spokesman Michael Gwin told The Post that Biden views the January 6 attack as a 'dark stain on our country's history.'
Biden is 'deeply committed to ensuring that something like that can never happen again, and he supports a thorough investigation,' Gwin said.
Lawmakers on the Democrat-run January 6 select committee argue that Trump no longer gets the benefit of executive privilege.
'It's not really relevant because there's no president involved - there's no such thing as a former president's executive privilege,' Rep. Jamie Raskin, a Maryland Democrat, told The Post.
'That's extremely dilute and not really relevant,' Raskin added. Raskin teaches constitutional law.
The House select committee - which House Speaker Nancy Pelosi assembled after Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell tanked a bill that would have created a 9/11-style bipartisan commission to prob 1/6 - asked the National Archives on August 25 for 'all documents and communications within the White House on January 6, 2021, relating in any way' to the Capitol attack.
Included in the request were call logs, schedules and meetings for Trump, droves of White House staffers, Trump's adult children - who appeared alongside him at the 'Save America' rally on the morning of January 6 - and advisers and allies including Rudy Giuliani, Roger Stone, Steve Bannon and Michael Flynn.
'All documents and communications received, prepared, or sent by any official within the White House Situation Room and the White House Operations Center on January 6, 2021, including but not limited to any communication logs, situation reports, and watch officer notes,' the request said.
The Archives already identified hundreds of pages from the Trump White House to hand over to Congress, The Post reported.
A statute requires that those documents get turned over to the Biden White House and to Trump's legal team prior to any release.
The first tranche of documents was sent to the White House and Trump on August 31, The Post reported.
Trump has 30 days to object to their release.
Even if Trump's team objects to the release, Biden's White House can release them after 60 days has passed.
Trump could also take the administration to court.
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