WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden won’t block requests for Trump administration records sought by a House committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said.
“We take this matter incredibly seriously,” Psaki told reporters at a briefing on Friday. “The president already concluded that it would not be appropriate to assert executive privilege. And so, we will respond promptly to these questions as they arise, and certainly, as they come up from Congress.”
The House committee is focused on former President Donald Trump’s incitement of the riot at the Capitol while Congress met to affirm his reelection defeat and what he did after a mob of his supporters invaded the building.
Executive privilege is a legal right presidents often assert when congressional oversight committees or lawsuits seek records of their activities or testimony from their aides. Courts have said that under the separation of powers in the Constitution, presidents have authority to keep many White House conversations and documents confidential.
