WASHINGTON – Department of Justice (DOJ) Special Counsel Robert Hur’s
report on President Biden’s mishandling of classified documents omitted nine boxes of potentially classified records Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) uncovered last March. Grassley and Johnson made the records’ existence public after the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)
responded to the senators’ oversight confirming that, at DOJ’s urging, it retrieved the boxes out of concern for the sensitivity of their contents. NARA in its response further acknowledged the FBI had reviewed the contents of the boxes – but it is unclear if either NARA or the FBI ever shared their findings with Special Counsel Hur.
Grassley and Johnson are
pressing Attorney General Merrick Garland, FBI Director Christopher Wray and Special Counsel Hur on this “significant factual omission.” Specifically, the senators are asking for a description of the boxes’ contents and an explanation of what the agencies did with them.
“…[W]e publicly revealed last year that NARA had retrieved nine boxes of Biden records from the Boston office of Patrick Moore, one of Biden’s personal counsels,” the senators wrote. “Oddly, Special Counsel Hur’s report did not mention NARA’s retrieval of the nine boxes from Mr. Moore’s office… [I]t is unclear if Special Counsel Hur had any awareness of or reviewed the information contained in these nine boxes.”
“DOJ, FBI, and the Special Counsel’s office owe Congress and the American people a complete explanation regarding this apparent omission in Special Counsel Hur’s report, a detailed description of the contents of the nine boxes, and what was done with them,” the senators concluded.
Background
Grassley and Johnson were the first in Congress to probe Biden’s mishandling of government records in an
initial inquiry to then-White House Counsel Dana Remus in July 2021. Notably, Hur’s report makes clear that several months after Grassley and Johnson kicked off their oversight, Remus began “gathering materials to prepare for potential congressional inquiries” relating to Biden’s files.
A timeline of the senators’ oversight is below.
- July 2021: Letter to White House Counsel Dana Remus
- June 2022: Letter to White House Special Counsel Richard Sauber
- January 2023: Letter to White House Special Counsel Richard Sauber
- January 2023: Letter to NARA Acting Archivist Debra Steidel Wall
- January 2023: Letter to Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle
- February 2023: Letter to NARA Acting Archivist Debra Steidel Wall
- March 2023: Letter to NARA Acting Archivist Debra Steidel Wall
- August 2023: Letter to NARA Archivist Colleen Shogan
Read Grassley and Johnson’s letter
HERE.