The White House this week directed the National Archives to release records from former Vice President Mike Pence to the House select committee investigating the Capitol riot, The Hill reports.
White House counsel Dana Remus wrote a letter on Tuesday ordering the agency to turn over various documents despite former President Donald Trump's claims that doing so would violate executive privilege and a privilege involving deliberative processes.
"Many of the records as to which the former President has made a claim of privilege in this set of documents, however, were communications concerning the former Vice President's responsibilities as President of the Senate in certifying the vote of presidential electors on January 6, 2021," Remus wrote.
She added, "Although those records qualify as Vice-Presidential records under the Presidential Records Act and therefore and are subject to the provisions of the Act concerning exceptions to restricted access, they are not subject to claims of the presidential communications privilege."
Remus continued, "In any event, to the extent any of the documents in question could be subject to a claim of executive privilege of any sort, including by the former President, President Biden has determined that an assertion of such a privilege is not justified and is not in the best interests of the United States.”
According to CNN, the Archives will immediately begin releasing records that Trump is not contesting to the panel.
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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