House Republicans Officially Launch Investigations Into Biden Documents

Flanked by House Republicans, U.S. Rep. James Comer (R-KY) speaks during a news conference at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Nov. 17, 2022. Alex Wong/Getty Images

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) requested a range of documents and other materials from the White House after it was revealed that classified documents were found at President Joe Biden’s office and Delaware home, triggering a special counsel investigation.

In a new letter issued to White House counsel Stuart Delery on Friday, Comer noted that his committee recently initiated an investigation into Biden’s possession of classified materials and said that more documents are needed by Jan. 27. That includes “all classified documents” that were recently obtained by Biden’s lawyers “at any location,” according to the letter.

Comer’s letter also sought a complete list of Biden’s aides and lawyers who are tasked to look through Biden’s documents, a list of locations where the documents were found, and communications and documents that were sent between the Department of Justice and White House or the National Archives. The latest House Oversight letter was triggered after a second batch of documents were found by Biden’s aides and lawyers inside rooms of his Delaware residence; classified materials were also found at his Washington office.

“We have [documents] revealing this address appeared on Hunter’s driver’s license as recently as 2018,” House Oversight Republicans wrote, referring to Biden’s son Hunter Biden, “the same time he was cutting deals with foreign adversaries.”

The nexus between the tranche of documents and Hunter Biden is notable, as the GOP has long sought to investigate connections between the president and his son’s controversial business ventures in China and Ukraine. Before Republicans took control of the House, Comer and other Republicans announced they want to make investigating the Bidens’ business dealings a priority.

U.S. President Joe Biden speaks on the FAA computer outage as he departs the White House on January 11, 2023. Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

That also includes how Twitter officials in the lead-up to the 2020 presidential election worked to suppress a story that shed light on the younger Biden’s laptop and messages between Hunter and others that made reference to his father as “the big guy” amid dealings with a Chinese conglomerate. Recent files released at the behest of new Twitter owner Elon Musk revealed that a former FBI official who used to work at Twitter, James Baker, suggested in an email to other Twitter managers that a New York Post report about Hunter’s business ties should remain blocked while inaccurately suggesting it was disinformation.

“Now that Democrats no longer have one-party rule in Washington, oversight and accountability are coming,” Comer said in a letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, asking her to provide his panel with suspicious activity reports for Hunter Biden, James Biden, and other Biden family members. “The Committee on Oversight and Accountability is investigating President Biden’s involvement in his family’s foreign business practices and international influence peddling schemes,” Comer wrote to Yellen.

Another Letter and Response

Later Friday, House Judiciary Republicans led by Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) wrote to Attorney General Garland and the DOJ requesting documents and communications relating to the appointment of new special counsel Robert Hur following Garland’s Thursday announcement. They also are seeking records and communications between the DOJ, FBI, and Biden’s office relating to materials that were found at Biden’s office and home.

In response, Biden’s White House legal counsel said Republicans are engaging in a politically motivated attempt to discredit the president. They said that, in part, some Republicans are trying to garner media attention to bolster their national profiles.

“In their first week as a governing majority, House Republicans have not taken any meaningful action to address inflation and lower Americans’ costs, yet they’re jumping out of the gate with political stunts driven by the most extreme MAGA members of their caucus in an effort to get attention on Fox News,” Ian Sams, a spokesman for the White House Counsel’s office, said in a statement to news outlets earlier this week.

Instead, Biden “is going to continue focusing on the important issues the American people want their leaders to work together on, and we hope House Republicans will join him,” according to the spokesperson. The Epoch Times has contacted the White House Counsel’s office for comment.

Special Counsel

On Thursday, Attorney General Merrick Garland said he appointed a special counsel to investigate whether Biden mishandled classified documents when he was vice president. Robert Hur, who was appointed by Trump as U.S. attorney for Maryland, was named as the special counsel.

Based on a recent investigation, Garland said he “concluded that, under the special counsel regulations, it was in the public interest to appoint a special counsel.” Like Biden’s case, Garland last year appointed a special counsel, Jack Smith, to investigate various allegations against former President Donald Trump, including whether the former commander-in-chief himself mishandled documents at his Mar-a-Lago residence.

“I strongly believe that the normal processes of this department can handle all investigations with integrity. But under the regulations, the extraordinary circumstances here require the appointment of a special counsel for this matter,” Garland announced. “This appointment underscores for the public the department’s commitment to both independence and accountability in particularly sensitive matters, and to making decisions indisputably guided only by the facts and the law.”

Following Garland’s announcement, White House lawyer Richard Sauber said the administration is “confident” that those documents were “ inadvertently misplaced” and would show there was no malfeasance.