President Joe Biden is working with Democrat members of Congress to turn over information related to former President Donald Trump and the January 6th riots on Capitol Hill, the White House confirmed Thursday.
“The President is deeply committed to ensuring that something like that can never happen again and he supports a thorough investigation… his Administration has been engaging with Congress on matters relating to January 6 for several months now and will continue to do so,” White House spokesman Michael Gwin said in a statement to reporters.
Gwin reminded reporters that Biden believed the January 6th attacks were “a dark stain on our country’s history.”
“[T]hey represented an attack on the foundations of our constitution and democracy in a way that few other events have,” he added.
The Washington Post reported Thursday that Biden’s White House was erring on the side of disclosure, not executive privilege — which Trump intends to invoke to prevent information from being shared with Congress.
The information turned over to Congress could detail what Trump was doing and saying or who he was meeting with as his supporters stormed Capitol Hill to protest the results of the 2020 presidential election.
Taylor Budowich, a spokesman for former President Trump denounced the “highly partisan, Communist-style ‘select committee’” for pursuing extensive records in the investigation in his comments to the Washington Post.
“Executive privilege will be defended, not just on behalf of President Trump and his administration, but also on behalf of the Office of the President of the United States and the future of our nation,” he added.
The National Archives currently holds Trump’s documents, but has already turned them over Biden and to Trump’s lawyers as part of the investigation.