House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. James Comer (R-KY) has demanded that the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) give him unrestricted access to documents containing communications between then-Vice President Joe Biden’s office and his son Hunter Biden’s business partners.
On Wednesday, Comer sent a letter to NARA explaining that the Oversight Committee seeks “unrestricted special access” to records that were previously released with redactions pursuant to the Presidential Records Act and the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).
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Joe Biden never built an ‘absolute wall’ between his family’s business dealings and his official government work.
I am calling on the @USNatArchives to provide unredacted docs related to the Office of the VP colluding with the Biden family and their business associates. https://t.co/sNqAuenuoP
— Rep. James Comer (@RepJamesComer) September 6, 2023
Those redacted versions of the records were posted to NARA’s website in response to a FOIA lawsuit brought by America First Legal, a group led by former Trump advisor Stephen Miller.
According to Comer, the “complete” versions of the records are relevant to the Oversight Committee’s probe into the Biden family.
In the letter, the Oversight Committee chairman provided a list of specific requests and a deadline of September 20 — noting that several exchanges between Hunter Biden’s business partners and White House staff had already drawn interest.
“For example, on December 4, 2015, at 10:45 a.m. — in an email with the subject of ‘Quotes’—Eric Schwerin (a longtime Biden family business associate) wrote to Kate Bedingfield in the Office of the Vice President providing quotes the White House should use in response to media outreach regarding Hunter Biden’s role in Burisma, a Ukrainian energy company,” the letter read.
“Later that day — at 2:30 p.m. — Ms. Bedingfield responded to Mr. Schwerin saying, ‘VP signed off on this[.]’ The timing of this email traffic is concerning to the Committee,” the letter continued, pointing out that recent testimony from Hunter Biden’s longtime business partner Devon Archer showed that, “after a Burisma board of directors meeting in Dubai — on the evening of December 4, 2015 (midday in
Washington, D.C.) — Hunter Biden ‘called D.C.’ to discuss pressure that Burisma asked him to relieve.”
Alongside communications between Joe Biden’s vice-presidential office and Hunter Biden’s business associates, Comer also demanded that NARA hand over all executive calendars from Biden’s time as vice president dating from January 20, 2009, to January 20, 2017 — which is the entire duration of the Obama administration.
In response to a request for comment about the issue from The Daily Wire, a NARA spokesperson confirmed that the agency had received Comer’s request and “will respond in accordance with the Presidential Records Act (PRA), NARA’s implementing regulations, and the governing Executive Order.”
The agency also provided the outlet with a link to a press release detailing the process for how NARA deals with a “special access request.”
