Multiple gavel-wielding House Republican committee chairmen have launched broad investigations into President Joe Biden’s apparent mishandling of classified information.
Biden’s personal attorneys said they first discovered classified documents in early November at the Penn Biden Center. The president’s lawyers have since found more classified documents at Biden’s Wilmington, Delaware, home in December and January, and the Department of Justice found more when it conducted its own search last week.
Rep. James Comer (R-KY), the new chairman of the House Oversight Committee, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX), chairman of House Foreign Affairs, and Rep. Mike Turner (R-OH), chairman of House Intelligence, are all investigating elements of the Biden saga.
Here is a roundup of each of them.
James Comer
Comer told the National Archives on Jan. 10 that he was investigating whether there was “political bias” at the agency related to how it had handled the Biden affair versus former President Donald Trump’s classified records at Mar-a-Lago.
Archivist Debra Wall had defended her agency’s actions in a letter to Comer last week — and repeatedly cited special counsel Robert Hur and the Justice Department as a reason for her delay in providing key details.
Comer’s committee said Monday that the National Archives had missed the deadline to hand over information, but his office said Thursday a transcribed interview of the National Archives general counsel will happen next week.
The Republican investigator also sent a letter to the Biden White House counsel on Jan. 10 asking for information on the documents at the Biden center. He sent a Jan. 13 letter asking for “all classified documents retrieved by Biden aides or lawyers at any location” and “all documents and communications” between the White House and DOJ or the National Archives.
The Republican also sent a Jan. 15 letter to departing White House chief of staff Ron Klain urging him to hand over the visitors log at Biden’s home in Wilmington.
“Without a list of individuals who have visited his residence, the American people will never know who had access to these highly sensitive documents,” Comer said.
White House counsel Stuart Delery largely dodged answering the questions about the classified documents and visitors to Biden’s home, writing back, “We are reviewing your recent letters with the goal of seeking to accommodate legitimate oversight interests within the Committee’s jurisdiction while also respecting the separation of powers.”
The White House counsel’s office has said there are no visitors logs tracking guests at Biden’s Wilmington home.
Comer also sent a Jan. 23 letter to Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle asking for access to the visitors logs.
“Given the White House’s lack of transparency regarding President Biden’s residential visitor logs, the Committee seeks information from the Secret Service regarding who had access to his home since serving as Vice President,” Comer said.
Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said early last week that “we don’t independently maintain our own visitor logs because it’s a private residence.” But he said late last week that “the Secret Service does generate law enforcement and criminal justice information records for various individuals who may come into contact with Secret Service protected sites.”
Comer also sent a Jan. 18 letter to University of Pennsylvania President Mary Elizabeth Magill. The Penn Biden Center was hosted through the university.
“The American people deserve to know whether the Chinese Communist Party, through Chinese companies, influenced potential Biden Administration policies with large, anonymous donations to UPenn and the Penn Biden Center,” Comer said.
The University of Pennsylvania has received tens of millions of dollars in donations and gifts from Chinese sources since the end of Biden’s vice presidency and the launch of the Biden center.
The Penn Biden Center employed nearly a dozen future Biden administration employees — including Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Colin Kahl.
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Jim Jordan
Jordan fired off a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland on Jan. 13 demanding all documents and communications between the DOJ, the FBI, and the Executive Office of the President about Biden’s classified documents saga. The deadline Jordan set for Garland was Friday at 5 p.m. — but the Republican chairman did not receive a response by then.
Jordan’s letter also demanded that Garland hand over details about the appointment of DOJ veteran and former Trump federal prosecutor Hur to be the special counsel handling the Biden classified records saga.
The Republican also asked for all documents between or among the DOJ, the FBI, and the White House related to classified records found at the Penn Biden Center and at Biden’s home. The letter told Garland to hand over all communications between the DOJ and Biden’s lawyers related to the classified documents saga.
Jordan told the Justice Department to provide all of the documents and communications related to the storage of the classified records at Biden’s office and his home, as well as all records tied to the discovery of the documents with classified markings.
Garland did none of that by the Friday deadline.
“It is unclear when the Department first came to learn about the existence of these documents, and whether it actively concealed this information from the public on the eve of the 2022 elections,” the GOP letter to Garland said. “It is also unclear what interactions, if any, the Department had with President Biden or his representatives about his mishandling of classified material.”
Michael McCaul
McCaul wants answers about the classified documents found at the Penn Biden Center from Blinken — a former managing director of the center. The Republican wants to know what Blinken knew and when he knew it, saying he has “grave concern” about the improper handling of the classified documents.
“The Foreign Affairs Committee is concerned about the national security and foreign policy implications of classified documents found at the Penn Biden Center, where you and several high-ranking State Department officials worked prior to your current executive branch appointments,” McCaul said in a Jan. 23 letter to Blinken. He added he would “like to better understand the role you and other Department officials played at the Center.”
Blinken denied knowing about the classified documents last week.
McCaul asked Blinken to provide any and all communications from November through the present related to classified documents found and asked whether any of the documents are State Department records.
The congressman also asked for a “detailed explanation” of Blinken’s role at the Biden center, including when he became aware of the presence of classified documents there and whether he had access to spaces where classified records were found.
Multiple other top Biden State Department officials also previously worked for the Biden center.
McCaul told Blinken that the Chinese donations to the University of Pennsylvania “raise questions about the Center’s potential ties to — or benefits derived from — that funding, interactions you or others had with the donors, and whether People’s Republic of China linked individuals ever entered the Center and came within close proximity of classified U.S. intelligence information.”
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Mike Turner
Turner sent a Jan. 10 letter to Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines requesting “an immediate review and damage assessment” on Biden’s classified documents saga.
“This discovery of classified information would put President Biden in potential violation of laws protecting national security, including the Espionage Act and Presidential Records Act,” Turner said. “Those entrusted with access to classified information have a duty and an obligation to protect it. This issue demands a full and thorough review.”
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence repeatedly declined to comment this week on whether it was conducting an intelligence assessment on the Biden classified documents despite Haines confirming in late August that ODNI was conducting such an assessment related to the classified documents found in Trump’s possession.
Haines was criticized by members of the Senate Intelligence Committee over a briefing this week that Republicans and Democrats alike said denied them access to basic details about the Trump and Biden classified documents sagas. Haines pointed to the existence of the special counsels as a reason why her information sharing was limited.
