House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. James Comer has said the National Archives and Records Administration was prevented from notifying the public about the initial discovery of classified documents from President Biden’s former DC think tank office.
Comer (R-Ky.) told Fox News’ “Hannity” Tuesday night that Archives general counsel Gary Stern said in a closed-door interview he could not tell lawmakers who ordered the Archives not to put out a press release announcing the Nov. 2 find at the Penn Biden Center.
“There are only two people that could have given those orders, and that’s either the Department of Justice with [Attorney General] Merrick Garland or the White House with Joe Biden,” Comer said.
“So it shows right there that this Department of Justice and this White House is interfering with this,” he added.
FBI agents reportedly searched Biden’s former office in mid-November, days after his attorneys found classified records improperly stored there less than a week before the midterm elections.
The feds’ search of the Penn Biden Center, which was reported by multiple outlets Tuesday, was not previously disclosed by the White House, the Justice Department or the president’s personal attorneys.
It’s unclear whether agents found any additional classified material after Biden’s lawyers reportedly found around 10 classified documents at his abandoned Penn Biden Center office near the US Capitol.
Additional classified materials were later discovered in December and January at Biden’s home in Wilmington, Del.
Comer said preventing NARA from releasing information about the classified materials demonstrates a double standard between how Biden’s case is being handled and how the discovery of sensitive documents at former President Donald Trump’s Florida estate was handled.
“If you go on the National Archives website, there’s pages and pages of press releases and information about the FBI raid into Mar-a-Lago and Donald Trump’s possession of classified documents,” Comer said.
“But there’s nothing on the website about Joe Biden,” he told Hannity.
“Nothing that Joe Biden’s done with respect to mishandling these classified documents is normal. Take into consideration that he’s also being investigated for influence-peddling with our adversaries around the world, and it’s even more concerning,” Comer went on.
Comer also discussed first son Hunter Biden’s overseas business pursuits while he had access to the Wilmington house where classified documents were stored.
“Look, more information comes out every day where [Joe Biden’s] son, especially, as well as his two brothers, have had shady business dealings with our adversaries around the world,” he said.
“And part of what they would do when they would make a pitch to these shady characters in these foreign countries is prove to them that they actually had direct access to their brother and that they had direct access to people at the highest levels of our federal government.”
“So when we learned that Joe Biden had classified documents from all over the place and that Hunter Biden especially lived in his house where he had those classified documents, we became extra concerned, and that’s why this investigation is of the utmost importance for the United States Congress as well as the American people,” Comer added.
Hunter Biden, who is under federal investigation for possible tax fraud, money laundering and illegal foreign lobbying, frequently visited the Wilmington document repository, according to records from his former laptop, and even listed the home as his own residence on a 2018 background check form.
