National Archives Tells Oversight Committee Chairman Comer DOJ Must Sign Off on Biden Docs Cooperation

IThe latest sign that House Republicans In their search for information on President, they may run into roadblocks Joe Biden’s classified documents inquiry, the National Archives told congressional investigators on Tuesday that it won’t share documents with lawmakers without a green light from the Justice Department.

Debra Steidel wall, acting archivist at National Archives and Records Administration, spoke to House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer The newly appointed special counsel in document discovery would need to approve any interviews or records that are given to the committee.

“Our desire to provide you with as much information as we can, however, must also be balanced with the need to protect Executive branch equities, particularly as they relate to ongoing criminal law enforcement investigations by DOJ,” Wall wrote in a letter To Comer.

The National Archives head revealed that Comer’s staff met privately on Friday with two top officials at the records agency, where those officials told the Republican congressional aides that the Justice Department would need to approve any material given to the Oversight Committee.

Wall stated in the letter that the DOJ had now indicated that special counsel Robert Hur would have to be approved for the National Archives to work with Republican investigators.

Comer had asked the Biden administration for information about who searched for classified records among Biden’s personal belongings and where those searches took place.

His probe is one of two House Republicans initiated last week. The second inquiry, led and directed by House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan, focuses mostly on the DOJ’s actions during the months preceding the case became public.

GOP lawmakers have accused the DOJ and the National Archives of handling the Biden case more sympathetically than a similar case involving former President Donald Trump’s retention of classified documents.

Wall tried to refute bias allegations in her letter to Comer.

She pointed out that the National Archives was her favorite. “had no knowledge of and played absolutely no role in” the FBI’s raid of Trump’s home in August. Critics have questioned why the FBI raided Trump’s home on suspicion of him having classified records in it but did not take any similar steps on the suspicion of Biden having classified records in his home.

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The DOJ instead allowed Biden’s private lawyers to conduct searches of Biden’s residence and trusted their word that all classified documents had been recovered.

Wall also pointed out that neither case had been publicly discussed by the National Archives until news reports made public. Wall stated that only then did the agency respond.

The White House has mostly refused to answer questions regarding the sequence and events leading to the criminal investigation, since Attorney General Merrick Galrland appointed Hur to supervise the Biden case.