Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) this week demanded the National Archives (NARA) provide a detailed assessment of its review of about 5,400 emails and records linked to Joe Biden’s alias email accounts, a letter obtained by Breitbart News shows.
Joe Biden used three email aliases to share government information and discuss business with Hunter Biden and associates, according to the Southeastern Legal Foundation (SLF).
Since 2021, the Archives has refused to provide the emails and documents to the senators, citing a review process, Johnson told Breitbart News on Tuesday.
Colleen Shogan, Archivist of the United States (Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP)
The senators wrote the Archives requesting an update on the Archives review:
In order to better understand the review process for these records and to assist our over two-year inquiry into then-Vice President Biden’s use of personal email addresses for official government business, we request the following information:
Please provide a detailed update on the status of the review of the “approximately 5,138 email messages, 25 electronic files and 200 pages of potentially responsive records” that are connected to the Southeastern Legal Foundation’s June 9, 2022 FOIA request, including:
a. Which presidential offices participated in this review?
b. Have representatives of the current and former presidents completed the review of the records? If so, which offices have completed their review and when?
c. If not, how many records still need to be reviewed and by which office?
The senators also questioned the Archives about the November, 2022, discovery of nine boxes of documents in the Boston office of President Joe Biden’s lawyer, Patrick Moore.
The boxes, which are a part of the Biden classified document scandal, originated from the Penn Biden Center, Joe Biden’s former think tank office in Washington, D.C.
The senators wrote:
Regarding the discovery of Biden records in the Boston office of Pat Moore, as of March 7, 2023, NARA informed our offices that it had not reviewed the contents of the boxes found at Mr. Moore’s Boston office.
Has NARA reviewed the contents of these boxes? If so, did any of the Biden records discovered at Mr. Moore’s Boston office include the pseudonyms and email addresses listed below that then-Vice President Biden used?
a. “RobinWare456@gmail.com”;
b. “Robert.L.Peters@pci.gov”;
c. “JRB Ware”; and
d. “67stingray”.
Lastly, the senators asked the Archives hand over Joe Biden’s emails to Congressional investigators. “Please produce all records that have been identified responsive to the Southeastern Legal Foundation’s June 9, 2022 FOIA request,” they said.
On Thursday, the Archives requested permission from Joe Biden and former President Barack Obama to release the emails to Congressional investigators.
President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, July 16, 2012, in Washington, DC. (Patrick Smith/Getty)
“Today is the deadline for the National Archives to produce the records related to then-VP Joe Biden’s pseudonyms,” the Oversight Committee said. “NARA has informed us that the emails and records have been sent to representatives for former President Obama and Joe Biden for their approval to be released.”
NARA typically notifies current and former presidents of both requests for and proposed disclosure of records of former presidents, according to agency guidelines.
“The purpose of the notification is to give Counsel, on behalf of the incumbent President, the right to assert applicable constitutionally based privileges to prohibit access to or release of Presidential or Vice Presidential records,” the Archives’ “Guidance on Presidential Records” reads. “Although these records were created by a prior President, the incumbent President may believe that it is appropriate to assert Executive Privilege to bar the release of these records.”
Follow Wendell Husebø on Twitter @WendellHusebø. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.