Biden orders National Archives to send Trump White House visitor logs to Congress News
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Biden orders National Archives to send Trump White House visitor logs to Congress

President Joe Biden Tuesday ordered the National Archives to send the Trump White House visitor logs to a House select committee investigating the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol, rejecting former President Donald Trump’s executive privilege claims.

In January, National Archives provided the Trump White House visitor logs to Biden’s White House. The documents show appointment information for those who entered the White House complex on January 6, 2021, among other days.

White House counsel Dana Remus wrote a letter to the National Archives, stating that Biden determined that asserting executive privilege “is not in the best interests of the United States, and therefore is not justified, as to these records and portions of records.”

The letter stated that the Biden administration voluntarily discloses visitor logs every month, which the Obama administration did as well. “The majority of the entries over which the former President has asserted executive privilege would be publicly released under current policy,” Remus wrote in the letter.

Remus urged that the records should be handed over quickly “in light of the urgency” of the committee’s work and Congress’s “compelling need.”

National Archivist David Ferriero sent a letter to Trump on Wednesday, stating that Ferriero would deliver the records to the House Committee on March 3. Ferriero explained that sensitive appointments would be kept confidential. Private personal information of visitors would be protected because the committee will accept documents with the Social Security numbers and birthdates removed.

THIS DAY @ LAW

Congress passed legislation establishing post-WWII national security structure

On July 25, 1947, the National Security Act of 1947 was passed, establishing a linkage between the military and national security, and setting up the National Security Council (NSC), the CIA, the Department of Defense, and several other new agencies, including the National Military Establishment with three separate departments (the Army, the Navy and the new US Air Force), and the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Learn more about the National Security Act of 1947.

Brunswick Manifesto proclaimed

On July 25, 1792, the Brunswick Manifesto was proclaimed by Charles William Ferdinand, the Duke of Brunswick during the French Revolutionary Wars. As leader of the forces allied against France, Ferdinand promised retribution against the citizens of Paris if the French Royal Family was harmed. Instead, the Manifesto further inflamed anti-royal sentiment in Paris.