GOP Investigators Challenge National Archives To Release Biden’s Secret E-Mail Messages to Hunter and His Partners Using Fake Names Like ‘Robin Ware’

The House’s impeachment investigators have intensified their focus on the thousands of e-mails President Biden sent while using a series of pseudonymous accounts to Hunter Biden and his business partners during the elder Mr. Biden’s time as vice president. On Friday, the three top Republican investigators, Chairmen James Comer, Jim Jordan, and Jason Smith, invited the archivist of the United States, Colleen Shogan, to appear at a public committee hearing to answer questions about her “interactions and coordination with the White House regarding requests for records from Joe Biden’s tenure as Vice President.” The Archives has so far refused to release the records, saying it needs permission from Mr. Biden and President Obama. “The House Oversight Committee has requested certain records, including e-mails where Joe Biden used an alias, Air Force Two manifests, and correspondence with Biden family business associates, but the White House has failed to release thousands of pages of documents,” the committee said in a statement. Messrs. Comer, Jordan, and Smith are accusing the White House of obstructing their investigations by failing to release the secret, pseudonymous e-mails and are now considering an obstruction of justice charge as a potential article of impeachment. The case for an obstruction of justice article would also be augmented by accusations that the White House coordinated with the younger Mr. Biden regarding his refusal to comply with a subpoena to give a sworn, closed-door deposition to impeachment investigators.In their missive to Ms. Shogan, the committee chairmen said they have been seeking the elder Mr. Biden’s Obama-era e-mail messages for the last six months, to no avail.“The Oversight Committee has previously requested from the National Archives and Records Administration certain records related to President Biden’s tenure as Vice President from 2009 to 2017,” the chairmen said. “NARA has failed to produce the totality of documents requested. The Oversight Committee has engaged with NARA since August 2023 regarding the production of these records, and NARA has responded that the White House has authorized production of only certain tranches of documents.”Ms. Shogan, who is also a mystery novelist whose books include “Stabbing in the Senate” and “Homicide in the House,” could later be subpoenaed by the committees should she decline to appear. Mr. Comer previously told the Sun that it was congressional committee “tradition” to first invite witnesses to appear “before we issue subpoenas.” The Sun has reached out to his office to ask if that option has been discussed.The letter sent to Ms. Shogan asks her to appear for a voluntary interview on January 31. The Oversight Committee requested access to the documents in August, which led NARA to disclose the existence of at least 5,400 e-mail messages where Mr. Biden used Gmail accounts with the false names Robin Ware, Robert Peters, and JRB Ware to send and receive information — including from his son.A spokeswoman for Mr. Comer previously told the Sun that the Archives claims that Messrs. Biden and Obama must approve the release of the documents. “National Archives officials have indicated they have sent some of the records to representatives for former President Obama and Joe Biden for their approval to be released,” the spokeswoman, Jessica Collins, said. “President Biden promised the most transparent administration in history, and we fully expect him to approve the release of these records.”At the time, the White House said it would not comply because Mr. Comer’s impeachment inquiry had yet to be authorized by a full House vote. “This pattern of distortions and falsehoods lays bare that no amount of truthful testimony or document productions will satisfy you and exposes the improper nature of your Committee’s efforts,” a White House lawyer, Richard Sauber, wrote to the committee in November. “Congressional harassment of the President to score political points is precisely the type of conduct that the Constitution and its separation of powers was meant to prevent.”On top of the potential articles of impeachment already being considered — including public corruption, violations of the Emoluments Clause, or whatever else Republicans decide to include — the committees are now saying they may include an obstruction of justice charge. This is born of the White House acknowledging that the president was aware that his son was going to defy a congressional subpoena. The chairmen point out that the White House press secretary, Karine Jeanne-Pierre, publicly acknowledged that the president had advance knowledge of his son’s intention to refuse to comply with the subpoena and that, therefore, Mr. Biden may be guilty of trying “to influence, obstruct, or impede the due and proper exercise of the power of inquiry.” “On December 13, when asked whether President Biden had watched Mr. Biden’s statement, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre stated that President Biden was ‘certainly familiar with what his son was going to say,’” Messrs. Comer and Jordan wrote to the White House counsel, Ed Siskel. “Ms. Jean-Pierre’s statement suggests that the President had some amount of advanced knowledge that Mr. Biden would choose to defy two congressional subpoenas.”The GOP chairmen have demanded the White House release information about their alleged coordination with the first son’s strategists and legal team.

GOP Investigators Challenge National Archives To Release Biden’s Secret E-Mail Messages to Hunter and His Partners Using Fake Names Like ‘Robin Ware’

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