Left: Rep. James Comer (R-KY); Right: President Joe Biden AP

Top National Archives official agrees to speak with House Oversight Committee

Sarah Westwood January 26, 01:17 PMJanuary 26, 01:39 PM Video Embed

House Oversight Committee staff will conduct a transcribed interview with the top lawyer for the National Archives and Records Administration on Tuesday, the first interview in the investigation of President Joe Biden’s classified documents scandal.

National Archives General Counsel Gary Stern will meet with committee staff Tuesday afternoon to provide testimony, a committee spokesperson told the Washington Examiner.

A GUIDE TO REPUBLICAN INVESTIGATIONS OF BIDEN’S CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS SCANDAL

Stern will likely face questions about how his agency handled the discovery of classified documents at Biden’s private office in Washington, D.C., and personal home in Wilmington, Delaware.

Oversight Chairman James Comer (R-KY) accused the National Archives of approaching the Biden case differently than it approached a similar discovery of classified documents among the records at former President Donald Trump’s home.

Comer asked the National Archives for communications and records related to the Biden inquiry earlier this month, but the agency missed a deadline to provide the information on Tuesday.

Last week, the National Archives informed the committee it would not provide any documents to lawmakers unless the Justice Department authorized the disclosure.

The appointment of special counsel Robert Hur to oversee the Biden investigation has complicated lawmakers’ efforts to get answers from the several federal agencies involved in the case.

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On Wednesday, Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines met with members of the Senate Intelligence Committee in a classified setting and refused to answer any questions about the Biden and Trump investigations, citing the involvement of special counsels in both cases.

But Senate Intelligence Committee members noted that they had access to information they wanted when special counsel Robert Mueller was investigating Trump. Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AK) told the Washington Examiner that committee members got to review “highly sensitive documents” during that investigation.

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