Biden will not assert executive privilege for court-ordered depositions of Wray, Trump

The Department of Justice (DOJ) said on Friday that President Biden will not assert executive privilege over court-ordered depositions from former President Trump and FBI Director Christopher Wray.

Trump has also not requested an assertion of privilege over the depositions, the DOJ said in Friday’s filing.

Wray and the former president have been ordered to sit for depositions in lawsuits brought by two former FBI employees who claim they were unfairly targeted for their work investigating Trump’s ties to Russia during the 2016 election.

Former FBI agent Peter Strzok was fired and former FBI attorney Lisa Page resigned from the bureau in 2018, after text messages emerged that showed the two making critical comments about the former president.

The two have claimed they were targeted out of a political vendetta.

U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson ordered Trump and Wray to sit for the depositions last month, citing the “apex doctrine” and rejecting the Justice Department’s attempts to quash the requests.

The doctrine allows high-ranking government officials to be deposed when they have personal knowledge on the matter that cannot be obtained elsewhere.