EXCLUSIVE — The National Archives and Records Administration provided nearly 5,000 pages of documents to the House Oversight Committee this week in response to a request from Republican lawmakers as part of their impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden.
In its latest, and fourth, batch of documents, the NARA turned over 4,967 additional pages of documents, including 296 emails and attachments, to comply with the committee’s request for presidential records from the Obama administration.
In its request, the committee sought communications in which a pseudonym for Biden “was included either as a sender, recipient, copied or was included in the contents of the document or communication,” according to a copy of the letter that was sent on Tuesday and obtained by the Washington Examiner.
The committee also sought any communications in which Hunter Biden or his business associates Eric Schwerin and Devon Archer were attached to or included in the contents of the documents. Drafts disseminated between Nov. 1, 2015, and Dec. 9, 2015, of then-Vice President Joe Biden’s speech delivered to the Ukrainian Rada in December of that year were also requested.
In that speech, Vice President Joe Biden called for the firing of Viktor Shokin, who was the prosecutor investigating the Ukrainian energy company for which Hunter Biden was on the board of directors.
The latest round of documents comes after the National Archives has already publicly released more than 20,000 pages of emails related to Hunter Biden and the Biden family, as well as another 71,000 pages of additional records in response to House Republican requests, according to a senior House Democratic aide.
Oversight Chairman James Comer (R-KY) initially requested access to unredacted emails and documents from Joe Biden’s time as vice president in an August letter, after which the National Archives has been releasing those materials to the committee periodically.
That process has left House Republicans frustrated, with a spokesperson for the committee pointing to a letter by the White House sent on Wednesday that denies a request to see drafts of Biden’s speech to the Ukrainian Rada, citing “confidentiality concerns.”
The committee lamented that rejection, accusing the White House of “obstruct[ing] our impeachment inquiry by preventing the National Archives and Records Administration from releasing requested documents to Congress.” Additionally, the committee has alleged the NARA has only provided “certain tranches of documents” that the “White House has authorized.”
“Those documents, in the Committees’ view, include only those that reflect favorably on the President or that are without substance,” a spokesperson for the House Oversight Committee told the Washington Examiner. “This is unacceptable.”
However, because of the size of the request, a senior House Democratic aide said the NARA has had to triple its staff in order to provide the documents in a timely manner. This has resulted in the documents being released in parts in the order by which they are prioritized by Republicans, which is standard practice for releasing presidential records, the aide said.
A NARA spokesperson echoed that sentiment, noting the agency is continuing “to respond to requests for Presidential records by the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability in accordance with the Presidential Records Act.”
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According to a letter by the White House to the Oversight chairman, the committee “did not provide the White House any indication of [Comer’s] priorities among his many requests” until a letter was sent on Jan. 31.
It’s not yet clear when, or if, the public will get a full look at the additional documents provided to the committee as they contain personal information such as addresses and phone numbers, according to the letter.
