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President Biden has ordered the release of White House visitor logs from the Trump administration to the House select committee investigating last year’s Capitol riot, overriding his predecessor’s claims of executive privilege.
In a Tuesday letter to the head of the National Archives, White House counsel Dana Remus stated that Biden had determined that Trump’s privilege claim over the logs “is not in the best interests of the United States, and therefore is not justified.”
“The records in question are entries in visitor logs showing appointment information for individuals who were processed to enter the White House complex, including on January 6, 2021,” Remus wrote. “As a matter of policy, and subject to limited exceptions, the Biden Administration voluntarily discloses such visitor logs on a monthly basis.”
Remus added that most of the entries will be publicly released under current policy, saying that “preserving the confidentiality of this type of record generally is not necessary to protect long-term institutional interests of the Executive Branch.”
According to the letter, Biden has requested the National Archives turn over the documents to the select committee within 15 days of notifying Trump, “unless prohibited by court order.”
It is unclear how detailed the logs are or the extent they will contribute to the committee’s investigation.
The panel was formed early last year to investigate the riot, which broke out when a pro-Trump crowd stormed the Capitol and disrupted Congress’ certification of Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election. The 45th president has repeatedly slammed the investigation, calling the panel the “Un-Select committee.”
Over the past year, Trump has attempted to block the release of various documents by citing executive privilege, even though he is no longer president.
Last month, the Supreme Court refused to block the release of a separate trove of documents held by the National Archives and Records Administration.
Since taking office last year, Biden has voluntarily released similar documents from within his own administration, including White House visitor logs. However, not all entries have been released and the administration has declined to release visitor logs from the president’s Delaware homes.
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