WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden directed the National Archives for White House visitor logs to be sent to the House select panel investigating the attack on Capitol Hill Jan. 6.
The former President Donald Trump tried to block the release, but White House Counsel Dana Remus stated in Tuesday’s letter to National Archivist David Ferriero that Trump’s claim that visitor logs from his time as president are subject to executive privilege is false.
Remus stated that the records agency should deliver the documents to Remus in less than two weeks, “in view of the urgency” of investigation by the committee.
Remus wrote that the president had determined that executive privilege was not in the United States’ best interests and that it is therefore not justified for these records and parts of records. The letter was obtained Wednesday by NBC News. “The records at issue are visitor log entries that show appointment information for individuals who were allowed to enter the White House complex, including January 6, 2021.”
The letter stated that the Biden administration discloses White House visitor logs every month voluntarily, a practice also observed under the Obama administration. The New York Times first to report about Biden’s decision.
Remus said that Biden would like the National Archives to deliver the documents within 15 days of notification to the former President, unless a court prohibits.
In a letter Wednesday, Ferriero informed Trump that he would hand the records to him on March 3 barring any court orders. He stated that sensitive appointments would be kept confidential by the panel and that he would deliver the records to the committee on March 3, barring any court order.
Officials from the Trump White House stated that they would keep most visitor logs secret. They cited “the grave national security threats and privacy concerns of hundreds of thousands of visitors each year” as the reason.
In recent months, the Jan. 6 committee intensified its investigation into Capitol attack. The panel subpoenaed half-dozen people it claimed were involved in organizing slates for ” alternate electors“, to challenge Biden’s victory in 2020.
The committee is trying gather information about the events that led up to Jan. 6, and the events of the day. Last week, NBC reported on NBC that White House records that were obtained by the committee didn’t contain any calls to Trump or his representatives on Jan. 6th., which includes some conversations that the panel knows he had with Republican lawmakers in the hours following his speech at the Ellipse.
