The office of former president Barack Obama privately blasted a congressional investigation into former vice president Joe Biden and his son, as well as alleged Ukrainian election interference, calling it an effort "To give credence to a Russian disinformation campaign," according to a letter obtained by BuzzFeed News.
In March, Obama's office told the National Archives and Records Administration - which maintains presidential records - that a request from two top Republican senators for Obama administration documents related to Ukraine was improper.
Grassley and Johnson, who chair the Finance and Homeland Security committees, respectively, asked the National Archives for records on meetings between the Obama administration and Ukrainian officials, as well meetings between Obama officials and Alexandra Chalupa, the Democratic operative at the heart of the debunked Ukrainian election interference narrative.
Obama ultimately agreed that the records could be released "In the interest of countering the misinformation campaign underlying this request," according to the letter, which was provided to BuzzFeed News by his office in response to questions about the records request.
"Since 2017, the Office of President Obama has produced 12,880 pages of presidential records in response to special access requests from the White House and Congress," the letter said.
It's unclear what's in the Obama administration records that the senators now possess, but Grassley and Johnson have said they want to know whether reports about Ukrainian officials working to undermine the Trump campaign are accurate and whether US policy toward Ukraine was affected in any way by Biden's son, Hunter, serving on the board of a corrupt Ukrainian energy company.
"Our investigation is extensive and our request for President Obama's records is only one of many lines of inquiry," Altenburg added.
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/emmaloop/obama-records-biden-ukraine-russian-disinformation?bftwnews&utm_term=4ldqpgc#4ldqpgc
In March, Obama's office told the National Archives and Records Administration - which maintains presidential records - that a request from two top Republican senators for Obama administration documents related to Ukraine was improper.
Grassley and Johnson, who chair the Finance and Homeland Security committees, respectively, asked the National Archives for records on meetings between the Obama administration and Ukrainian officials, as well meetings between Obama officials and Alexandra Chalupa, the Democratic operative at the heart of the debunked Ukrainian election interference narrative.
Obama ultimately agreed that the records could be released "In the interest of countering the misinformation campaign underlying this request," according to the letter, which was provided to BuzzFeed News by his office in response to questions about the records request.
"Since 2017, the Office of President Obama has produced 12,880 pages of presidential records in response to special access requests from the White House and Congress," the letter said.
It's unclear what's in the Obama administration records that the senators now possess, but Grassley and Johnson have said they want to know whether reports about Ukrainian officials working to undermine the Trump campaign are accurate and whether US policy toward Ukraine was affected in any way by Biden's son, Hunter, serving on the board of a corrupt Ukrainian energy company.
"Our investigation is extensive and our request for President Obama's records is only one of many lines of inquiry," Altenburg added.
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/emmaloop/obama-records-biden-ukraine-russian-disinformation?bftwnews&utm_term=4ldqpgc#4ldqpgc
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