The chairman of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee is pressing the White House over claims that the National Archives and Records Administration was barred from issuing a public statement after it was alerted to the discovery of classified documents from President Biden’s Washington think tank.
In a letter to White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients on Tuesday, Rep. James Comer, Kentucky Republican, demanded that the administration say whether a member of the White House staff or a representative of Mr. Biden ordered officials to keep quiet.
The Archives’ General Counsel Gary Stern testified before the committee in January that NARA drafted a public statement in response to CBS’ Jan. 9 report that Mr. Biden had stored classified materials at the Penn Biden Center, but that someone outside of NARA blocked the release.
Mr. Stern said he was unable to tell the committee who ordered the statement to be squelched, citing Justice Department guidance which barred him from speaking about the “content or our communications with other parties.”
Mr. Comer said blocking the Archives from publicly disclosing the documents demonstrates a double standard between how Mr. Biden’s case is being dealt with, and how the discovery of classified documents at former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate was handled.
“In complete contrast, on February 7, 2022, when the Washington Post broke the story that classified documents were found in President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home, NARA employees, including Gary Stern, drafted and published a statement on the agency’s website that same day,” Mr. Comer wrote in his letter on Tuesday.
He said Mr. Stern’s testimony “raises more questions regarding the Biden Administration’s involvement in suppressing information related to President Biden’s mishandling of classified documents.”
“The Committee is concerned about President Biden’s lack of transparency given the serious national security implications of his conduct,” he wrote.
The top Democrat on the committee, Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, pushed back on Mr. Comer’s characterization of Mr. Stern’s testimony to the committee in a staff memo on Tuesday.
Mr. Raskin said Mr. Stern had made clear that “the key difference” between NARA’s handling of Mr. Trump’s classified documents case and that of Mr. Biden “was the existence of an ongoing federal law enforcement investigation,” the latter of which prohibits public comment.
At the time of the Mar-a-Lago document discovery, there was no pending investigation by federal law enforcement. By the time Mr. Biden’s mishandling of classified documents became public, the DOJ had already been investigating the matter for more than two months, Mr. Stern testified.
Mr. Raskin also provided additional remarks from Mr. Stern in the staff memo, in which Mr. Stern confirmed that Acting Archivist Debra Steidel Wall directing NARA personnel not to comment on “potential or ongoing investigations.”
“Committee Republicans have failed to identify any evidence to support their irresponsible claims that the National Archives and the Department of Justice are politically biased and have been uncooperative with their investigation,” Mr. Raskin said. “I’m calling on Chairman Comer to release the full, complete and unedited transcribed interview with Mr. Stern, so that the American public can evaluate the facts free from partisan spin.”
Classified documents dating to Mr. Biden’s term as vice president were discovered at the Washington office of his University of Pennsylvania-affiliated think tank in November, just days before the midterm elections.
More classified documents were later discovered at Mr. Biden’s home in Wilmington, Delaware.
The White House didn’t acknowledge the matter until after it was made public by CBS in January.
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have remained frustrated with the lack of detail the administration has shared with Congress about the matter.
Senate intelligence committee members said their requests for the classified documents recovered from both presidents’ properties were denied during a classified briefing on Capitol Hill by Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines in January.
Members of the panel said the Office of the Director of National Intelligence blocked the release of key details about the documents until the Department of Justice has concluded its investigations.
The Department of Justice has also stonewalled requests from the Republican-led House judiciary committee.
Justice officials have said the release of certain information to lawmakers could hamper the ongoing special counsel investigations into the matter.
Mr. Comer says preview requests for details concerning the classified documents have been rebuffed by the White House.
• Joseph Clark can be reached at jclark@washingtontimes.com.
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