'unique and extraordinary circumstances'
Biden rejects Trump effort to withhold records from Jan. 6 committee
President Biden has officially blocked former President Donald Trump's efforts to withhold documents from the committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
In a letter to the National Archives, White House Counsel Dana Remus blocked Trump's attempt to withhold documents that were requested by the select committee investigating the Capitol riot, explaining, "President Biden 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 any of the documents," NBC News reports.
The White House counsel cited "unique and extraordinary circumstances," saying that executive privilege protections "should not be used to shield, from Congress or the public, information that reflects a clear and apparent effort to subvert the Constitution itself."
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki previously said that Biden concluded it "would not be appropriate to assert executive privilege" over such records, on Friday, she reiterated that asserting executive privilege over this first set of documents "is not warranted." This decision applies to a set of documents that was previously identified by the National Archives and shared with Trump's legal team in September, CNN reports. But Psaki said Friday "this will be an ongoing process," adding, "We will evaluate questions of privilege on a case by case basis."