If the twice-impeached ex-president who lost the popular vote twice had actual evidence that exonerated him of anything he’s being accused of by the January 6 Select Committee, he’d be the first to mail it to them himself. Instead, Trump has worked harder than at anything else on keeping much of the information around the January 6 insurrection hidden, many times by claiming executive privilege, which only the sitting president can determine. In fact, according to The Washington Post, “Trump has tried to assert privilege over daily presidential diaries, schedules, drafts of speeches, remarks and correspondence concerning the events of Jan. 6 as well as the files of his top advisers and lawyers.”
President Biden has authorized the National Archives and Records Administration to hand over an eighth tranche of presidential records from the Trump White House to the House committee investigating the deadly Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. https://t.co/ZIIRsh6CfM
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) May 11, 2022
The new letter is in line with the Biden administration’s decision to err on the side of disclosure, given the gravity of the events in the Jan. 6 attack by a pro-Trump mob. https://t.co/ZIIRsh6CfM
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) May 11, 2022
When the select committee requested another round of documents and records related to their investigation, Trump and his legal team once again delayed the investigation by refusing to send them. As he has before, Trump claimed executive privilege, but Biden felt that in the interest of transparency, the documents should be released.
The Washington Post reports White House counsel Dana Remus as saying:
‘As to the remaining prioritized records, President Biden has considered the former president’s claims, and I have engaged in consultations with the Office of Legal Counsel at the Department of Justice. 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.’
Twitter was quick to respond to the news of Biden’s refusal, much of it negative toward Biden and toward investigators. Read some of their comments below:
