Democrats and never-Trump Republicans are so desperate to prevent the Former President from ever occupying the Oval Office again, that they’re even willing to subvert the same democracy they claim to uphold.
In fact, Joe Biden just authorized the National Archives and Records Administration to release hoards of records from the Trump administration to be utilized by the House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol protest.
The White House declined to assert executive privilege over an eighth batch of documents the Jan. 6 panel requested in a letter to the National Archives, the Washington Post reported. It is unclear what kinds of documents were included in the recent trove.
“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,” White House counsel Dana Remus wrote in the letter.
The documents are expected to be sent to the Jan. 6 committee by May 26, according to the report. So far, the National Archives has turned over hundreds of documents to the committee.
Trump had tried to shield drafts of speeches, presidential diaries, schedules, and information about the events surrounding the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. In January, the Supreme Court rejected Trump’s plea to block the committee from receiving documents from his White House days from the National Archives.
Trump is facing scrutiny from the House Oversight Committee and the Justice Department over his handling of document preservation during his White House days. The Presidential Records Act of 1978 requires presidential administrations to preserve key documents, but Trump retained the old habit of ripping up paper notes once he’s through with them.
In January, officials from the National Archives reportedly acquired 15 boxes from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago that were supposed to have been turned over to the agency after his departure from the White House.
The Jan. 6 committee is gearing up for public hearings in June as its investigation nears its conclusion and works to draft a final report for release in the fall. The first public hearing is scheduled for June 9. Throughout its inquiry, the committee has conducted nearly 1,000 depositions and interviews and amassed roughly 120,000 documents.
A winning use of taxpayer resources!
Author: Ann Taylor
