The Republican-led House Committee on Oversight and Accountability is raising new questions as to whether the Biden administration pressured the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) to avoid issuing a public statement on President Joe Biden’s handling of potentially classified documents.
The questions about the White House’s role in the classified documents case come about after NARA general counsel Gary Stern appeared for a transcribed interview with the Oversight Committee on Jan. 31. Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) said that, during this interview, Stern described having prepared a statement on Jan. 9 on NARA’s behalf, addressing the news that documents with classified markings were found at Biden’s former office space and Delaware residence. NARA did not release Stern’s initial statement and Stern testified that someone from outside NARA held back the release of the prepared statement. He did not specify which outside individual withheld the NARA statement on the Biden classified documents case.
Comer sent a letter to White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients on Tuesday, asking whether anyone from the Biden administration was involved in suppressing the NARA statement. Comer specifically asked Zients if any White House employee or representative of the president “inform[ed] any employee of NARA to withhold any public statements regarding President Biden’s mishandling of classified documents.” Comer also asked for any documents or communications the White House may have regarding a potential request that NARA avoid releasing a public statement on Biden’s classified documents case.
During the Jan. 31 interview, the committee also asked Stern whether Biden can release any statements between his attorneys and NARA. Stern testified that Biden is “free to release” his communications with NARA, adding that “we treat them as confidential, but the recipients, you know, can act independently if they want to.”
Differences to Trump Classified Documents Case
In his letter to Zients, Comer said NARA’s response to the Biden classified documents case was “in complete contrast” to how the agency responded to reports the year prior about former President Donald Trump’s handling of classified documents after he left office.
While NARA agreed to an outside request to withhold its statement on Biden’s handling of classified documents, NARA shared a statement with the Washington Post within hours of its Feb. 7, 2022, report that Trump had classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida.
NARA’s February 2022 statement said the records in Trump’s possession “should have been transferred to NARA from the White House at the end of the Trump Administration in January 2021” and the agency said it’s continuing to search for additional records in his possession.
Trump has repeatedly said he declassified the documents that were recovered from Mar-a-Lago, and has said Biden did not declassify the documents that were discovered in his possession.
On Tuesday, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.)—the ranking Democrat on the Oversight Committee—issued his own statement, claiming Stern and NARA were complying with Republican requests for information while being careful not to interfere with any ongoing investigations.
“Committee Republicans continue to make unfounded accusations of disparate treatment by the National Archives and the Department of Justice in their efforts to preserve presidential records and secure classified records,” Raskin wrote.
Raskin further alleged Comer made a “misleading claim that the Biden Administration improperly suppressed information” about his handling of classified documents.
NTD reached out to the White House for comment but did not receive a response by publication time.
