House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) denounced President Joe Biden’s handling of classified documents that were found at his Delaware home last year, accusing the White House of being the “least transparent administration in history.”
Comer, who is leading the House committee’s investigation into the classified materials, criticized Biden for failing to inform the country publicly about the document discoveries, accusing the president of trying to cover up the incident, the Kentucky Republican wrote in an op-ed for the New York Post.
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“If the Biden administration had its way, you wouldn’t even know about it,” Comer wrote, detailing the timeline of classified materials that were found in Biden’s possession. “When it mattered most, the White House, National Archives and Justice Department failed to promptly inform Congress and the American people.”
Biden’s attorneys initially found a batch of documents inside a locked closet at the Washington, D.C.-based think tank on Nov. 2, prompting officials to turn over the materials to the National Archives and Records Administration. The NARA then alerted the Justice Department about the finding on Nov. 4.
One month later, officials found additional classified materials at Biden’s personal residence in Wilmington, Delaware, on Dec. 20. The documents were handed over to John Lausch, U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, the next day for further evaluation.
During another search of Biden’s Delaware home on Jan. 11, officials found one more classified document inside a room that was adjacent to the garage. FBI agents then searched Biden’s home for 12 hours on Jan. 22, producing more classified documents — some that even dated back to his time as a senator.
Although the classified materials were found as early as November, the discoveries were not publicly known until CBS News reported on the documents nearly 10 weeks later.
“One thing is abundantly clear: The Biden administration never intended to inform the American people,” Comer wrote.
The Oversight chairman first requested information from the National Archives and White House Counsel’s Office about the document discovery on Jan. 10, just one day after it was first reported that classified materials were found in Biden’s office at his Washington-based think tank. Comer raised concerns about “inconsistent application” of the Presidential Records Act toward Biden and former President Donald Trump.
“This inconsistent treatment of recovering classified records held by Trump and Biden raises serious questions of political bias at the agency,” Comer wrote. “I sought answers from the National Archives.”
The House Oversight Committee requested information from the National Archives last month, but the agency said it needed DOJ approval before handing over materials. DOJ officials are “actively working” to provide a report to Congress members while not interfering with their investigations, the department said.
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It’s not yet clear when the House committee will have access to the DOJ’s findings, but Comer vowed the panel’s work is “far from over.”
“The American people deserve to know,” he wrote. “This scavenger hunt for Biden’s classified documents is likely far from over. In the meantime, Oversight Republicans will continue pressing for answers to inform legislative solutions to prevent this abuse of power.”
