President Donald Trump's White House has rejected executive privilege for former President Joe Biden's Domestic Policy Council Director Neera Tanden ahead of her transcribed interview Tuesday with the House Oversight Committee.
"The president authorizes you to provide unrestricted testimony to the House Oversight Committee, irrespective of potential privilege," Deputy Counsel to the President Gary Lawkowski wrote in a letter emailed to Tanden and her lawyers, which was obtained by Newsmax.
Tanden is among the targets of House Oversight Chair James Comer, R-Ky., as he seeks to investigate the alleged "cover-up" of Biden's cognitive decline and potential unauthorized use of the presidential autopen during his presidency.
"In light of unique and extraordinary nature of the matters under investigation, President Trump has determined that an assertion of executive privilege is not in the national interest, and therefore is not justified, with respect to particular subjects within the purview of the House Oversight Committee," the letter to Tanden and her lawyers began.
"These subjects include your assessment of former President Biden's fitness for the office of the president and your knowledge of who exercised executive powers during his administration. The extraordinary events in this matter constitute exceptional circumstances warranting an accommodation to Congress."
"Evidence that aides to former President Biden concealed information regarding his fitness to exercise the powers of the President — and may have unconstitutionally exercised those powers themselves to aid in their concealment — implicates both Congress' constitutional and legislative powers."
The letter concluded, "For the same reasons underlying his decision on executive privilege, President Trump has determined that he will not assert immunity to preclude you from testifying before the House Oversight Committee."
"In light of President Trump's determination not to assert executive privilege with respect to your testimony, we are not requesting that agency counsel be permitted to attend the deposition."
The move is ostensibly a counter to Biden's rejections of Trump's claims to executive privilege after leaving office during the Biden administration.
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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