The National Archives said it has to consult with the Department of Justice (DOJ) before providing Republican lawmakers with information related to the discovery of classified documents from the Obama administration linked to President Joe Biden.
Debra Steidel Wall, head of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), said the agency is willing to share documents and communication information requested by House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), but it has to balance “the need to protect Executive branch equities, particularly as they relate to ongoing criminal law enforcement investigations by DOJ.”
The second batch of classified documents from the Obama administration was discovered at a garage of Biden’s Wilmington residence, the White House said on Jan. 12. On the same day, Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Robert Hur, a former federal prosecutor in Maryland, as special counsel to investigate “whether any person or entity violated the law” with classified records linked to Biden.
In the letter, Wall also asked to postpone the scheduling of any interviews with the House committee before the DOJ completed the documents review, “since any restrictions that apply to the documents will necessarily apply to the interviews.”
“NARA did not affirmatively discuss or disclose to our oversight committees or to the public our activities concerning the return to our custody of either the Biden Vice Presidential records or the Trump Presidential records, or our referral of both matters to DOJ because we found classified information,” Wall wrote.
“Only when those topics were subsequently reported publicly in the press (approximately nine months after communications began on the Trump matter, and two and a half months on the Biden matter), did NARA begin to respond to queries from you and your predecessor chairwoman—and only then in a manner that would not harm the integrity of the DOJ’s investigations.”
“Accordingly, our action and responses with respect to both of these matters have been entirely consistent and without any political bias,” she added.
Wall insisted the agency wasn’t aware that government records that were discovered at the locations connected with Biden were missing until last November.
“NARA receives only the Presidential and Vice Presidential records that the departing administration provides us; we are never able to know whether we have ‘all’ such records,” Wall wrote.
“Until November 2022, we were not aware that any Obama-Biden records were missing.”
The Kentucky Republican also criticized NARA has yet to provide the House committee with “a simple briefing on its handling of classified docs.”
“So many questions remain unanswered. I will use the power of the gavel to get answers.”
