Sens. Johnson, Grassley Demand Answers from White House on President Biden’s Mishandling of Classified Records

Request follows two previous letters seeking information relating to Joe Biden’s use of non-government email 

WASHINGTON – On Wednesday, U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), ranking member of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, and U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), ranking member of the Committee on the Judiciary, sent a letter to Richard Sauber, Special Counsel to the President, reiterating questions about Joe Biden’s understanding of federal record-keeping requirements. This letter follows the recent discovery of classified documents at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement linked to then-Vice President Biden.

In July 2021, the senators requested information from Dana A. Remus, then-Counsel to the President, regarding reports that then-Vice President Biden used a non-government email for official business, including the transmission of government information to his son, Hunter Biden. After the White House failed to respond for nearly a year, Sens. Johnson and Grassley pressed the White House again in June 2022  after the discovery of an additional non-government email pseudonym associated with Joe Biden.

In response to the senators’ second request, Mr. Sauber wrote in an email to the senators’ staff, “I can say that the Biden/ Harris Administration recognizes and understand the federal records laws.”

“The Biden Administration may understand the federal records laws but it does not appear that they were properly followed by then-Vice President Biden,” the senators wrote.

“Aside from your brief and vague email to our staff, the White House has failed to respond to our previous letters. In light of the recent news regarding the inappropriate storage of classified documents, the White House must immediately provide transparency relating to then-Vice President Biden’s archiving of records,” the senators said.

The senators demanded the White House provide the following information:

  1. What steps did then-Vice President Biden take to ensure that all his government emails and related communications were properly stored and archived?
  1. Does President Biden use non-governmental email, including the following addresses and pseudonyms, to communicate government business or email his family members government information?  If so, what steps have been taken to ensure that those communications satisfy federal record-keeping and archival requirements?

                  a) “RobinWare456 @gmail.com”;

                  b) “Robert.L.Peters @pci.gov”;

                  c)“JRB Ware”; and

                  d) “67stingray”.

  1. With respect to the documents that are reportedly marked classified, what is the classification level for each document?
  1. Why is the Penn Biden Center vacating its office space in Washington, D.C.?  When was this decided?
  1. Please provide the name(s) of the attorneys who “were packing files” at the Penn Biden Center.
  1. How many documents were packed at the Penn Biden Center?  Has the National Archives requested to review all of the other documents at this location?
  1. Are there other locations where President Joe Biden has stored records from his time as vice president?  If so, has the National Archives requested to review those documents?
  1. Has the National Archives requested the White House to provide all documents that include the pseudonyms and email addresses listed above that then-Vice President Biden used?

Read more about the letter in Fox News.

The full text of the letter can be found here.

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