Biden rejects Trump’s privilege defence to avoid turning over White House paperwork

President says files should be made public ‘in light of the urgency’, according to White House counsel

Former President Donald Trump's visitor logs are to be turned over to the January 6 committee within 15 days, after President Biden rejected the former president’s “executive privilege"” defence.

White House counsel Dana Remus wrote a letter to the National Archive stating that the president had said: “In light of the urgency” the materials should be provided by the deadline.

“The majority of the entries over which the former president has asserted executive privilege would be publicly released under” President Biden’s policy, stated Ms Remus's letter, according to The Associated Press.

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It is not yet known if Mr Trump will again attempt to block the release of the visitor logs. It is also unclear as to what the logs may show or how thorough they are in their contents.

White House visitor logs were public under President Barack Obama, for transparency. Mr Trump reversed this under the idea that making them public would be a “national security risk”.

The January 6 committee is investigating the deadly attack on the US Capitol, and has issued hundreds of subpoenas for those who were allegedly involved in the insurrection. Those requested to be questioned include many of Mr Trump’s close aides.