Second Letter from Dana A. Remus, Counsel to the President, to David Ferriero, Archivist of the United States, dated October 8, 2021
October 8, 2021
David Ferriero
Archivist of the United States
National Archives and Records Administration 700 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W.
Washington, D.C., 20408
Dear Mr. Ferriero,
I write in response to your communication of October 8, 2021, informing us that former President Trump has asserted executive privilege with regard to a subset of documents requested by the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, and requesting President Biden’s views. President Biden has considered the former President’s assertion, and I have engaged in additional consultations with the Office of Legal Counsel at the Department of Justice. For the same reasons described in my earlier letter, the President maintains his conclusion that an assertion of executive privilege is not in the best interests of the United States, and therefore is not justified as to any of the documents provided to the White House on September 8, 2021. Accordingly, President Biden does not uphold the former President’s assertion of privilege.
The President instructs you, in accord with Section 4(b) of Executive Order 13489, to provide the pages identified as privileged by the former President to the Select Committee. In light of the urgency of the Select Committee’s need for the information, the President further instructs you to provide those pages 30 days after your notification to the former President, absent any intervening court order.
Sincerely,
Dana A. Remus
Counsel to the President