Executive privilege is a provision which allows the President of the United States and some other members of the executive office to withhold certain documents and communications they deem to be sensitive from the other two branches of the government – the legislature and the judiciary. This provision is not derived from the US Constitution, but rather, from common law and the principle of separation of powers.
The Supreme Court of the United States acknowledged this provision during United States v. Nixon, popularly known as Watergate. Recently, it has been invoked by former president Donald Trump in the matter of the January 6th attack on the Capitol to block the release of White House documents relating to the event. His requests, however, have been denied by the incumbent president and the Supreme Court.