House Republicans have stepped up their search for answers about President Joe Biden’s alleged mishandling of classified documents from his vice presidency—and may be building a case for impeachment.
Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) and Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) have subpoenaed former White House Counsel Dana Remus with the aim of conducting a transcribed interview with her.
The House Republicans also wrote to four White House employees requesting transcribed interviews: Annie Tomasini, Anthony Bernal, Katharine Reilly, and Ashley Williams.
The requests come as Special Counsel Robert Hur continues to investigate President Biden’s handling of classified documents.
Ms. Remus, who also served in the Obama administration, played a critical role in handling boxes containing classified documents at the Penn Biden Center on Nov. 2, 2022, according to April testimony to Mr. Comer’s committee from a former Biden aide, Kathy Chung.
Mr. Comer first requested transcribed interviews with Ms. Remus and the other four individuals in an Oct. 11 letter to White House Counsel Edward Siskel, who assumed the role in September of this year.
While Mr. Bauer’s timeline began on Nov. 2, when he said President Biden’s personal attorneys “unexpectedly discovered” the Penn Biden Center documents, Mr. Comer said that timeline omits trips to the Penn Biden Center long before November 2022 by Ms. Tomasini, Ms. Remus, Mr. Bernal, Ms. Williams, “and an unknown staffer” along with coordination by Ms. Chung and others.
The first such visit to the Penn Biden Center, by Ms. Tomasini, was in March 2021, according to Mr. Comer’s timeline.
The media first reported that classified documents had been discovered at the Center in January 2023. The news broke against the backdrop of investigations into former President Donald Trump’s alleged mishandling of classified documents from his presidency, including an FBI raid on President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago property.
“There is no reasonable explanation as to why this many White House employees and lawyers were so concerned with retrieving boxes they believed only contained personal documents and materials,” Mr. Comer said in his Oct. 11 press release.
NARA’s third release of records on Nov. 13, 2023, only dates to November of 2022, when the Penn Biden Center classified documents were first discovered according to Mr. Bauer’s timeline.
On Oct. 18, Richard Sauber, President Biden’s special counsel, responded to Mr. Comer’s request for interviews and other information related to the classified documents.
Mr. Sauber declined to cooperate, noting that “we dispute most, if not all, of the assertions in your [Mr. Comer’s] letter.”
Nov. 13 letters from Mr. Jordan and Mr. Comer note that the information they receive could provide the basis for drafting articles of impeachment against President Biden.
“You are in a position to provide information related to whether, among other things, Joe Biden, as Vice President and/or President: (1) took actions to hide or cover up his improper possession of classified materials; (2) abused his office of public trust by knowingly using Executive Branch employees to attempt to ameliorate any political repercussions of having been discovered to have improperly possessed highly sensitive classified materials; or (3) knowingly maintained improper possession of classified materials related to countries from which his family received millions of dollars,” the letter to Ms. Tomasini reads in part.
White House Press Secretary Jean-Karine Pierre declined to comment on the subpoena request during her Nov. 13 press briefing.
The White House Press Office did not respond to a request for comment by press time.
