The National Archives repeatedly defended itself over its handling of records from the Obama administration — but these statements now appear to ring hollow as the classified documents saga engulfs President Joe Biden.
The National Archives released four separate press releases last year, which seemed to cast doubt on the idea that any records from the Obama years were missing or had been mishandled. The agency set up an entire section on its website, “Press Statements in Response to Media Queries About Presidential Records,” in early 2022 dedicated to its numerous press statements on the Trump Mar-a-Lago classified documents saga, but the National Archives has yet to issue one press release when it comes to Biden.
Biden’s personal attorneys allegedly first discovered classified documents in early November at the Penn Biden Center. Biden’s lawyers have since found more classified documents at Biden’s Wilmington, Delaware, home in December and in January, and the Department of Justice found more when it conducted its own search Friday.
The classified records allegedly date back to Biden’s days as senator and vice president.
The Republican-led Committee on Oversight and Accountability told the National Archives earlier this month it was investigating whether there was “political bias” at the agency.
“In the aftermath of the FBI’s August 8, 2022, raid of Mar-a-Lago, NARA attempted to both minimize its role in the matter and explain that the Obama-Biden Administration’s handling of documents was proper and complete,” Rep. James Comer (R-KY) told acting Archivist Debra Wall this month.
ARCHIVES TAKES DIFFERENT APPROACHES IN TRUMP VS. BIDEN CLASSIFIED DOCS SAGAS
The National Archives had said in August that the agency “assumed exclusive legal and physical custody of Obama presidential records” when he left office in 2017, and the National Archives “maintains the classified Obama presidential records in a NARA facility” near the nation’s capital, stressing former President Barack Obama “has no control over where and how” the agency stores his records.
The agency then said in early September it was “false” that the National Archives had reported that a large number of boxes of Obama presidential records were missing, with the National Archives adding it was “not aware of any missing boxes of presidential records from the Obama administration.”
The National Archives added later that month that it controls the Barack Obama Presidential Library and insisted “all records in that facility are stored and managed by NARA in accordance with archival storage standards, and all classified records were stored in an appropriately secured compartment.”
The federal agency then insisted in October it had “assumed physical and legal custody of the presidential records” from the Obama administration at the end of his presidency. The National Archives said it “securely moved these records to temporary facilities” and that “all such temporary facilities met strict archival and security standards.”
The National Archives added, “Reports that indicate or imply that those presidential records were in the possession of the former presidents or their representatives, after they left office, or that the records were housed in substandard conditions, are false and misleading.”
Comer noted in his January letter to the National Archives that this statement “was apparently false and never corrected after learning that President Biden stored classified documents at Penn Biden Center.”
“NARA’s public enforcement of the Presidential Records Act against former President Trump while failing to disclose violations by President Biden to Committee Republicans and the American public raises concerns about inconsistent policy and procedures at the agency that creates the appearance of political bias,” Comer contended.
The National Archives defended itself in a letter back to the Republican investigator last week.
“Please note that at the end of every Presidential administration, NARA receives only the presidential and vice presidential records that the departing administration provides us,” Wall told Comer. “We are never able to know whether we have ‘all’ such records. Until November 2022, we were not aware that any Obama-Biden records were missing.”
The archivist added, “NARA treats all of its communications with the White House, DOJ, and the representatives of the former Presidents (and Vice Presidents) as presumptively confidential. For this reason, NARA did not affirmatively discuss or disclose to our oversight committees or to the public our activities concerning the return to our custody of either the Biden Vice Presidential records or the Trump Presidential records.”
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The National Archives did not respond to a request for comment.
Attorney General Merrick Garland has appointed two special counsels, former Kosovo war crimes prosecutor Jack Smith and former U.S. Attorney Robert Hur, to investigate Trump and Biden, respectively.
