National Archives Administration Turns Emails over to House Republicans for Biden Impeachment Inquiry

The National Archives and Records Administration last week provided House Republicans with a set of emails related to the impeachment inquiry into President Biden.

NARA gave the House Oversight Committee access to 211 emails totaling nearly 6,000 pages of records covering multiple requests from committee chairman James Comer (R., Ky.), Axios first reported.

“The National Archives continues to respond to requests for Presidential records by the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability in accordance with the Presidential Records Act, and we can confirm that records were provided to the Committee this past week,” NARA told National Review in a statement.

The emails came in two separate disclosures last week, according to letters written last week to Comer by NARA General Counsel Gary Stern, Axios reported. One of the disclosures includes communications where then-Vice President Joe Biden used multiple pseudonyms and communications with Hunter Biden and two of his former business partners, Devon Archer and Eric Schwerin.

The disclosure also includes emails about drafts of a speech Biden gave to the Ukrainian parliament in December 2015 before the ouster of Ukrainian prosecutor Viktor Shokin, the circumstances of which are part of the impeachment inquiry. Biden has bragged on two occasions about threatening to withhold $1 billion of funds for Ukraine in order to pressure the Ukrainian government into getting Shokin fired.

“As we have explained to your staff, we are conducting a rolling notification process to the representatives of the former and incumbent Presidents,” Stern said. Congressional committees are allowed to make “special access” records requests to NARA under the Presidential Records Act, which governs the records held by the executive branch.

Comer requested on August 17th the records pertaining to Biden’s speech draft and pseudonyms. He and Representative Byron Donalds (R., Fla.) sent another request on August 30th for records on Biden’s usage of Air Force Two. The third request sent by Comer asks for Biden’s calendar, communications between the Obama administration and key Biden business partners, and communications to select White House employees mentioning Hunter Biden.

The Biden administration is selectively deciding which pseudonymous communications NARA is permitted to release, a source familiar told NR. NARA has produced the Air Force Two documents to the White House, but the administration is not permitting the agency to release them, the source said.

House Republicans are primarily focusing on the Biden family’s foreign business dealings with individuals and entities from Ukraine, China, and elsewhere. Comer has criticized the Biden administration for alleged obstruction throughout the impeachment inquiry.

“The National Archives has turned over some documents pursuant to Chairman Comer’s requests,” an Oversight Committee spokesperson told NR.

“However, since August, the White House has been withholding all drafts of then–Vice President Biden’s speech delivered to the Ukrainian Rada in 2015. Chairmen Comer and Jordan have repeatedly asked the White House to hand over these drafts but the White House continues to obstruct the House’s impeachment inquiry.”

Hunter Biden and Archer made millions from sitting on the board of Ukrainian energy company Burisma Holdings beginning in spring 2014, according to bank records, testimony, and his federal tax indictment. Archer said last year, Burisma viewed Shokin as a “threat” to its business and testified about how the Biden family “brand” helped protect Burisma.

Hunter Biden testified for the impeachment inquiry in late February and confirmed his father met multiple foreign business partners. He recalled taking Air Force Two to China for a meeting with business partner Jonathan Li and introducing Li to Joe Biden. Nonetheless, Hunter said Joe Biden played no part in his business dealings and disparaged the impeachment inquiry.

Comer invited Joe Biden last week to testify for the impeachment inquiry in a letter summarizing the findings from the probe. The White House dismissed Comer’s request.