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Rejecting former President Donald Trump‘s demands of executive privilege, President Joe Biden has ordered the release of Trump White House visitor logs to the House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 attacks at the U.S. Capitol.
The records being released to Congress are visitor logs showing appointment information for individuals who were allowed to enter the White House, including the day of the insurrection.
The New York Times was first to report on Biden’s decision.
In a letter sent Monday to the National Archives, White House counsel Dana Remus said Biden had considered Trump’s claim that because he was president at the time of the attack on the U.S. Capitol, the records should remain private, but decided that it was “not in the best interest of the United States, and therefore is not justified, as to these records and portions of records.”
David Ferriero, the archivist of the United States, wrote in a letter to Trump that the documents would be delivered to the select committee on March 3.
“To ensure that Executive Branch interests are adequately protected, the Select Committee has agreed to treat entries associated with appointments designated as national-security sensitive (NSS) or otherwise-highly sensitive (OHS) as confidential and to refrain from sharing or discussing such entries outside the Select Committee without prior consultation,” Ferriero wrote. “Moreover, to ensure that personal privacy information is not inadvertently disclosed, the Select Committee has agreed to accept production of these records with birthdates and social security numbers removed.”
The committee is focused on Trump’s actions from January 6, when he waited hours to tell his supporters to stop the violence and leave the Capitol. Investigators are also interested in the organization and financing of a Washington rally the morning of the attacks when Trump told supporters to “fight like hell.” Among the unanswered questions is how close organizers of the rally coordinated with White House officials.
