During the next few weeks the Clinton Presidential Library will release thousands of previously withheld presidential documents from former President Bill Clinton's administration beginning Friday afternoon.

Politico reported there are about 33,000 confidential pages of documents protected under the Presidential Records Act but only 25,000 of those pages have been approved for release.

According to the Act, 12 years after the president has left office, those documents can be made public. However, both the former president and current president can assert an executive privilege on certain documents concerning national security.

The most recent former president to assert the executive privilege was Ronald Reagan in 2001 when he withheld 74 out of the 70,000 pages of records and was upheld by a judge.

Representatives for Clinton and Obama told press earlier this week there is no intention to assert an executive privilege on any of the documents.

According to Politico, the documents contain confidential advice given from and to the former president, records about federal office appointees and also communications information with former First Lady Hillary Clinton, who could be seeking the Democratic Presidential nomination for 2016.

The bulk of the records are expected to include information about Clinton's health care reform efforts, the Rwandan Genocide, his initiative on race and the Whitewater scandal regarding criminal allegations in a real estate investment fraud.

Despite the 12-year rule that lifted the document restrictions in January 2013, the records now being released are coming a little more than year late. The National Archives notified both the Obama and Clinton offices last year so they could review the records but it wasn't until recently that the two camps signed off on the release.

According to Politico the presidents' representatives typically have 30 days to complete the review and either release them or assert the executive privilege.

Politico speculates the library is finally releasing the documents because of numerous Freedom of Information Act requests from historians and the public.

Friday's initial release will include anywhere from 4,000 to 5,000 pages of the documents while the White House has extended the release of 7,000 to 8,000 pages until March 26 for further review, PBS Newshour reported.