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EXCLUSIVE: President Donald Trump rejected former President Joe Biden’s assertion of executive privilege over a tranche of documents requested by the Senate as part of various probes into the 46th president, determining it is “not in the best interests of the United States.”
White House counsel David Warrington wrote Monday in a letter addressed to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) and obtained by Digital that Trump “does not uphold the former President’s assertion of privilege” over records sought in four congressional probes. The letter directs NARA to provide the materials to Congress.
The dispute centers on documents related to investigations into Biden’s health, alleged politically motivated probes into Trump and his allies, and the Biden family’s financial dealings, which Republicans argue go to the heart of Congress’s constitutional authority to conduct oversight.
The letter came as a response to communication from NARA on Dec. 10 informing the White House that the former president had asserted executive privilege over the requested materials.
President Joe Biden speaks during event in Washington, D.C., on May 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
Warrington said the assertion “is not justified” as to documents identified in two letters Biden sent to NARA on Oct. 22 and Dec. 3.
The first category of documents involved a request from the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations for records related to what the letter described as the “coverup of former President Biden’s health and cognitive decline.”
“The abuse of the autopen that took place during the Biden Presidency, and the extraordinary efforts to shield President Biden’s diminished faculties from the public, must be subject to a full accounting to ensure nothing similar ever happens again,” Warrington wrote, quoting a prior letter.
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Biden also asserted privilege over two Senate Judiciary Committee requests concerning “coordinated efforts by the Biden administration against President Trump and his staff through politically motivated investigations.”
The White House argued that “the constitutional protections of executive privilege should not be used to shield from Congress evidence of a President’s efforts to imprison his opponent.”
A third set of documents related to the “Biden family’s financial dealings and potential conflicts of interest,” the letter noted, referencing Biden’s use of private email accounts and his work on Ukraine as vice president while his son Hunter Biden held a lucrative position on the board of an energy company there.
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Hunter Biden, son of President Joe Biden, talks to reporters at the U.S. Capitol, in Washington, Wednesday, Dec. 13, 2023. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Warrington acknowledged that the Supreme Court has recognized executive privilege as protecting presidential decision-making and deliberations but said he was “unaware of a Supreme Court ruling or constitutional text that extends those protections to former President Biden’s efforts to assist his son’s shady business deals,” underscoring a fight about how expansive the scope of executive privilege is in the face of Congress’ oversight demands.
“President Trump instructs you to provide to these congressional committees the pages identified as privileged by the former President,” Warrington wrote.
Warrington previously denied Biden’s privilege request over documents related to the Biden administration’s use of the autopen, Digital exclusively reported in December. Biden has denied accusations that official presidential documents were signed by the autopen without his knowledge, brushing them off as “ridiculous.”
Then-President-elect Donald Trump shakes hands with then-President Joe Biden at Trump’s inauguration in the Capitol Rotunda Jan. 20, 2025, in Washington. (Kenny Holston-Pool/Getty Images)
“Let me be clear: I made the decisions during my presidency. I made the decisions about the pardons, executive orders, legislation, and proclamations,” Biden said in a statement in June as Trump and Republicans sounded off about what they alleged was a scandal. “Any suggestion that I didn’t is ridiculous and false.”
Concerns over Biden’s mental acuity had simmered for years before reaching a boiling point in June 2024.
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Republicans sounded the alarm that it appeared Biden’s mental edge was slipping before even the 2020 election cycle. The media and Biden’s longtime Democratic allies joined conservatives in their alarm following Biden’s failed debate against Trump in early summer of 2024.
Biden dropped out of the race, but investigations and concerns over an alleged Biden administration coverup continue into the second Trump administration.
Digital reached out to a Biden representative and NARA for comment on Monday morning.
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