Department of Justice Special Counsel Robert Hur's report on President Biden's mishandling of classified documents omitted nine boxes of potentially classified records, according to Sens.
NARA reportedly confirming that, at DOJ's urging, it retrieved the 9 boxes out of concern for the sensitivity of their contents.
NARA further acknowledged to the senators that the FBI had reviewed the contents of the boxes.
"[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 information from the senators: 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
February 2023: Response from NARA
January 2023: Letter to Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle
February 2023: Response from Secret Service
February 2023: Letter to NARA Acting Archivist Debra Steidel Wall
March 2023: Response from NARA
March 2023: Letter to NARA Acting Archivist Debra Steidel Wall
April 2023: Response from NARA
August 2023: Letter to NARA Archivist Colleen Shogan
September 2023: Response from NARA
Read Grassley and Johnson’s letter here.
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