A top House Republican says the top lawyer for the National Archives “wasn’t allowed” to weigh in on the discovery of classified documents in President Joe Biden’s possession — despite publicly commenting repeatedly on former President Donald Trump’s similar circumstance.
The National Archives has stayed largely quiet when it comes to Biden’s classified document saga — a stark contrast to how it handled Trump’s scandal. It set up an entire section on its website, “Press Statements in Response to Media Queries About Presidential Records,” in early 2022 dedicated to its numerous press releases on the Trump Mar-a-Lago documents saga. However, in the weeks after Biden’s scandal burst into public view (and months after the National Archives first learned about it), the agency has yet to issue a single press release on it.
BIDEN WON’T COMMIT TO SPEAKING WITH SPECIAL COUNSEL ROBERT HUR
Rep. James Comer (R-KY), the new chairman of the House Oversight Committee, conducted a transcribed interview with National Archives general counsel Gary Stern on Tuesday, and he revealed Stern says he had been blocked from putting out public press releases on the Biden classified documents saga, with Comer suggesting only the Justice Department or the White House could have blocked the National Archives.
“Right before the National Archives came in, they handed us a letter from the Department of Justice informing them and us that the general counsel for the National Archives wasn’t allowed to say anything about the Biden documents,” Comer said on Fox News. “But we went ahead and we had about a three-plus hour transcribed interview with the general counsel, and what we learned was that there is a double standard here with how Donald Trump was treated versus Joe Biden.”
Comer said “an example” of the bias was the numerous Mar-a-Lago press releases compared to zero Biden classified documents press releases on the National Archives website.
“So we asked the general counsel — why were there no press releases sent on Joe Biden once it was determined that he had classified documents in his possession?” Comer told host Sean Hannity. “And the general counsel said that he did do press releases, but he was ordered and told they couldn’t be published. So we did ask who gave him the orders, and he said, ‘I can’t tell you that.’ But there are only two people who could have given him those orders, and that is either the Department of Justice with Merrick Garland or the White House with Joe Biden.”
Comer said Stern also testified he had typed out answers to GOP requests for information on the Biden classified documents, but the general counsel “wasn’t allowed” to make that information public, with Comer again saying the culprit could only be the DOJ or the White House.
Behind the scenes, Biden’s personal attorneys said they first discovered classified documents on Nov. 2 at the Penn Biden Center in Washington, D.C. Biden’s lawyers contacted the White House Counsel’s Office, and the White House contacted the National Archives. The National Archives informed its own inspector general on Nov. 3, and the watchdog contacted DOJ on Nov. 4.
The president’s lawyers have since found more classified documents in December and January at Biden’s home in Wilmington, Delaware. The DOJ found more when it conducted its own search earlier this month. Biden’s personal attorney confirmed Wednesday that the FBI was conducting a search of Biden’s beach home in Rehoboth, Delaware.
The National Archives weighed in on Mar-a-Lago in January 2022, twice in February 2022, and in October 2022. Despite remaining silent on the Biden saga, it released three more Mar-a-Lago press releases since it learned of classified documents at the Penn Biden Center — early November 2022, late December 2022, and on Tuesday.
A February 2022 press release included two quotes from then-Archivist David Ferriero stressing the importance of the Presidential Records Act, with Ferriero calling the law “critical to our democracy.” Ferriero also declared that when it comes to “the timely transfer of them to the National Archives at the end of an Administration, there should be no question as to [the] need for both diligence and vigilance. Records matter.” No such press release pronouncement has been made about the Biden saga.
Archivist Debra Wall defended her agency’s actions in a letter to Comer last month.
“DOJ has advised it will need to consult with the newly appointed Office of Special Counsel in DOJ to assess whether information can be released without interfering with the SCO’s investigation,” Wall said.
The archivist argued it was only when the Trump and Biden classified documents sagas were “reported publicly in the press” that the National Archives began responding to congressional inquiries.
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“Accordingly, our actions and responses with respect to both of these matters have been entirely consistent and without any political bias,” Wall argued.
Attorney General Merrick Garland selected DOJ veteran Robert Hur to be special counsel to investigate the Biden classified documents on Jan. 12. Biden and his White House have refused to say whether the president would agree to speak with the special counsel.
