where we start today with some of our favorite reporters and friends. betsy woodruff swan is here of politico. also joining us, tim miller, former rnc spokesman, now a writer at large for the bull work. and jeremy bash is here live on set. all of them msnbc contributors. jeremy, i want to start with you. this whole executive privilege exertion was so it was just one of the other sort of norms defiled by donald trump during his presidency. explain why it doesn t pertain and why the biden white house is doing what they are doing. it has nothing to do with politics and everything to do with what executive privilege is supposed to protect. exactly. it is great to be back here in person. it has been like home alone by myself. this decision today by the biden white house, by white house counsel dana reamis to say, no, we are not going to defend donald trump s bad action is clearly the right decision.
democracy, straight up. you have to wonder at one level if donald trump had tried that hard to end covid where we might be right now. we never saw anything that concerted on any other effort that he encountered as president. but you take this sort of chipping away at what has been five years of a cover-up for him. i mean, mueller never got to interview him. it sounds like the answers he gave mueller were lies. he was impeached twice. never convicted. could this represent a first successful evident to hold him accountable? it s possible, nicole. of course where is this all going? of course, the january 6th committee sends their request every to the archives. the archives turns to the white house and say what say you, mr. president? you are of course the current holder of the privilege and it is important for you to help us decide whether or not former president right side entitled to it. then, obviously we see this letter today from dana reamis the white house counsel who says
political showdowns. formally declining donald trump s request to exert executive privilege in order to withhold a massive batch of key documents from the january 6 select committee. in a letter to the national archives obtained by nbc news, white house counsel dana reamis writes, president biden has determined that an assertion of executive privilege is not in the best interests of the u.s. white house press secretary jen psaki stressing that point in a press briefing just over an hour ago. it was in many respects a unique attack on the foundations of our democracy. the president is dedicating to ensuring something like that could never happen again, which is why the administration is cooperating with ongoing investigations, including the january 6th select committee to bring to light what happened. as a part this process the president has determined that an assertion of executive privilege is not warranted for the first set of documents from the trump white house that have been