NARA's Response to Oversight Committee on Biden Docs Shows Just How Glaring the Bias Is

(AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley)

We saw that the National Archives had no problem talking and offering up information when it came to President Donald Trump and classified documents. But now when it comes to Joe Biden, suddenly we’re seeing NARA — which is supposed to be an objective government agency — playing the silence game.

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We saw that before the story was revealed by CBS a couple of weeks ago, the White House and the Justice Department had — in the words of the Washington Post — a “shared understanding” to keep quiet about what was going on. Thus, the American public was kept in the dark, by the White House and the DOJ, right before a critical election.

But it should be noted NARA wasn’t talking either. Talk about two systems of justice. You weren’t getting raids on Biden’s home, even with two finds of documents before this issue became public. Plus, Biden was given free rein to go to his homes over this period, so who knows what might have been cleared away? NARA also has failed to make a public statement about the Biden documents in the two weeks since the finds of the documents were announced. There are about 30 documents ranging in time from about at least six years ago when Biden left the vice presidency to things from his Senate days which would be at least 14 years old. NARA hasn’t responded to a Fox request for comment, while they had no problem issuing all kinds of releases when it came to Trump.

On Jan. 10, House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-KY) asked for a NARA briefing on the documents that had been found so far, so they could assess the possible damage and national security concerns. NARA refused to comply with that. Oversight also demanded that NARA provide records detailing their interactions with Biden’s lawyers and the Justice Department by Jan. 24. But now NARA has failed to comply with that deadline. That request only pertained to the documents found at the Penn Biden Center. Now there have been four other batches of documents found between Joe Biden’s home, garage, and the Center. Comer has since asked for more information about the other documents.

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“The National Archives has not produced the requested documents to the Committee at this time,” a committee spokesperson said on Tuesday. “Chairman Comer’s request still stands and anticipates moving forward with a transcribed interview with NARA’s general counsel soon.”

Comer has said that he would not be shy about immediately issuing subpoenas if they didn’t comply so that might be the next thing we see on the horizon.

Comer also told the NARA archivist Debra Steidel Wall that they now would be investigating the agency for the differences in how they had dealt with the Trump matter versus how they had dealt with the Biden matter.

House Oversight Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., sent a letter to Steidel Wall earlier this month informing her that his committee has launched an investigation on “whether there is a political bias at the National Archives and Records Administration.”

“For months, NARA failed to disclose to Committee Republicans or the American public that President Biden—after serving as Vice President—stored highly classified documents in a closet at his personal office,” Comer told Steidel Wall in the Jan. 10 letter. “Meanwhile, NARA instigated a public and unprecedented FBI raid at Mar-a-Lago—former President Trump’s home—to retrieve presidential records. NARA’s inconsistent treatment of recovering classified records held by former President Trump and President Biden raises questions about political bias at the agency.”

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George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley noted the difference and said that NARA “will need to be more transparent with Congress or risk contempt sanctions.”

This also raises the question if they aren’t forthcoming about the nature of the documents because they know it might impact the other investigations into the Bidens’ foreign business dealings. We know, for example, that they said among the documents were some on Ukraine. So is that something that could impact that question and did Biden take it to cover things up? That would be a big question that is hanging out there that needs to be answered.

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