White House orders release of Pence records to Jan. 6 committee

The Biden administration has ordered the National Archives to turn over records from former Vice President Mike Pence despite objections from former President Trump.

A Tuesday letter from White House counsel Dana Remus directed the agency to begin releasing the documents to the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. 

“Many of the records as to which the former President has made a claim of privilege in this set of documents, however, were communications concerning the former Vice President’s responsibilities as President of the Senate in certifying the vote of presidential electors on January 6, 2021,” Remus wrote.

Although vice presidential records do qualify for some public records exemptions that restrict access, “they are not subject to claims of the presidential communications privilege,” she wrote.

The letter from Remus follows a Jan. 18 letter from Trump seeking to block the release of more than 100 of the documents.

In the letter, Trump claimed the documents would violate executive privilege as well as another privilege that covers deliberative processes.

Remus has consistently ordered the release of various Trump-era documents, noting that President Biden, the sitting commander in chief, has not asserted any privilege over the records.

The order to release the records comes as a growing number of former Pence aides are cooperating with the committee and sitting for interviews with investigators.

Greg Jacob, counsel to Pence who opposed plans to have Pence buck his ceremonial duties to certify the election results, met with the committee Tuesday.

And former Pence chief of staff Mark Short testified before the House panel last week. 

Keith Kellogg, who served as Pence’s national security adviser, also testified before the panel.