America's Talking - Federal Agency May Withhold Records From Hunter Biden Investigators

Episode Date: September 9, 2023

House Oversight Committee Chair Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., pushed forward the investigation into President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter, Wednesday by calling out a federal agency that may be withholding information. Comer put the spotlight on the National Archives and Records Administration, the federal recordkeeping agency that tipped off the Department of Justice when former President Donald Trump had allegedly held on to classified documents. Comer says NARA has held back certain information, claiming it is “personal.” Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/america-in-focus/support Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Greetings and welcome to America and Focus Powered by the Center Square. I'm Dan McAulb, executive editor of the Center Square Newswire Service. Joining me again today is the Center Square's Washington, D.C. Bureau Chief Casey Harper. How are things in the capital city, Casey? They're good reporting live from the Imperial Capitol, Dan. How are you from your farm? Farm in Illinois. Not quite a farm.

Did you feed the pigs this morning? Close enough. No pigs. No pigs here. in the suburbs of Chicago. Casey, we're recording this on Friday, September 8th. The National Archives is an agency of the federal government that historically has operated behind the scenes. You know, relatively obscure to most Americans. But in the past year or so,

the archives have been thrust front and center into the news cycle. Ever since the FBI raided the Mar-a-Lago home of former President Donald Trump, looking for and finding classified, in some cases, very sensitive documents, and then revelations that President Joe Biden and former President Mike Pence also improperly stored classified documents. The archives have been thrust into the national spotlight. Trump has since been indicted, and now there's news this week that the archives are withholding information from Republican House committee members who are investing the Biden family and their alleged business dealings with foreign entities for personal profit.

What's going on with this story, Casey? Yeah, it's very interesting. I mean, had you ever heard of NARA, as it's called, before all this Trump stuff? Yeah, I think you're not alone. I've been in journalism for 30 plus years. Don't mean to give away my age there. But NARA, no. National Archives, yes, but the acronym NARA, no.

Yeah, 30 years on the farm, 30 years in journalism along, well-respected career. Dan, you know, you're so right. But the, so NARA is a no-name agency. Most Americans never even knew it existed or heard about it. But when, you know, I wrote about the initial. Trump indictment over classified documents, it was clear that actually NARA is the one who tipped off the DOJ and basically started in motion the first indictment, which, you know, I guess maybe it wasn't the first, but one of the key indictment, I think also actually, the first federal

indictment. Right. The first federal case in New York. Right. And he also has had other lawsuits. He's been fighting for well before that as well. But yeah, this federal indictment, which my read on all the indictments he's facing, this classified documents, one is the most dangerous, I think, where he's got the worst case.

You know, you look into this. And NARA is one who tipped off the DOJ. And it's so interesting because both President Biden and Mike Pence also had classified documents in their possession, Dan, which we've talked about on this podcast. You know, Biden infamously had them stored by his Corvette in his garage, you know, they're in this trunk of his corvette, in his garage. It's kind of unclear. But they were in his garage in this Delaware home, not exactly in a secure facility in northern Virginia. And so there's that. And then Mike Pence also has admitted to having these documents. But of course, you know, they weren't prosecuted. Now, what the reason that Trump's critics say he was prosecuted was because he delayed so long and returning in the documents or basically refused.

But that all really comes down to Trump's back and forth with NARA. So, I mean, that back and forth with this little known federal agency is really like what makes the bulk of this case against Trump and what makes it different maybe from Biden. Although it seems like they, a court, both also violated some kind of law in the way that they took these classified documents. They just were more cooperative with NARA. So NARA is the kind of the big difference maker in all these cases. And so it's very interesting. And now we're finding out from House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer, who has been spearheading this Hunter Biden investigation out of Congress that NARA it's not really as willing to cooperate in the Biden investigation. So there's a lot of different angles

to this Hunter Biden investigation, you know, one being that Hunter Biden may have used Air Force 2. You know, Air Force 1, of course, someone knows the air power, the president, but the vice president has his own Air Force 2. And it seems that Hunter Biden may have actually used Air Force 2 when Joe Biden was vice president to jet around the world and do these alleged, you know, deals. And so that is, of course, at taxpayer expense. Of course, it's a power move to show up in Air Force 2 to get a contract and has its own ethical, you know, ethical questions around it. But so Comer, the oversight, you know, chair for Republicans, is wanting all these records from NARA about how, you know, things were used, how involved Hunter Biden was. He's wanting more and more detailed records to get to the bottom of just how much Biden may or may not have known.

about what his son was doing. And Nara's basically said, hey, some of this stuff is personal. We're not going to hand it over to you or we reserve the right not to hand it over. Can I ask you? Interrupt them. I'm sorry. Yes, Nara is saying yet some of this stuff is personal. Isn't that the point? Right. I mean, can you imagine? The Biden family were using their government then vice president Joe Biden. The allegation is. This is all just allegations at this point. There's, you know, been plenty of witness testimony, public records, etc. But that the vice president, the son was using then vice president, uh, Joe Biden to gain influence over these foreign entities to personally gain for the Biden family. Right. And I mean, how can a federal bureaucrat at a recordskeeping

agency make that judgment call on what investigators can see and what's personal and what's not? Right. I mean, that's like, that's pretty unusual and strikes a weird, a weird court. So, so what's next is, is, um, is Comer and House Republicans are, How are they going to deal with us? How are they pushing back against NARA? I mean, they, you know, they have some things at their disposal. They do have some form of subpoena power. But it's kind of unclear. I think NARA is under a lot of scrutiny. They've already taken scrutiny for being, you know, called anti-Trump because how they handled his case. The confirmation of the head of that group, you know, was very highly scrutinized. So I think they're under a lot of pressure. I think it's very possible that they do completely.

just might take time. They might drag their feet. Even the FBI complied with Comer. But Comer had to threaten basically subpoenas and doing a lot of things to get some of the documents he needed. And it took, it took like a year for him to get that, that document that showed FBI informant saying things about how President Biden may have known about some of these meetings with Hunter Biden, for instance. So he has a good track record so far, but it just takes time. So I think this is going to drag out. And NARA is going to be under more scrutiny. And I have a story coming out about NARA at the center square.com and how they've at taxpayer expense, really gone, embrace the DEI equity agenda, right? And so that's something to look for. And it does raise questions about

whether there is bias among the people working there, the unnamed bureaucrats who are making judgment calls about what Republican investigators can see as personal or not personal in the Hunter Biden investigation. Well, I do look forward to that follow-up, Casey. As you mentioned, listeners will be able to read that story at thecenter square.com. This, it seems every week, Casey, or every other week, there's new revelations in this Biden family personal business dealings investigation. Of course, this is all happening at the beginning of the 2024 election cycle.

Donald Trump, former president, the far and away GOP. frontrunner for president next year. Biden, he does have a couple of Democrats who are running against him, but really at this point, they don't seem to be significant at all. So you've got the two frontrunners who, one is under four separate indictments. The other is under this very aggressive investigation by House Republicans. It's just going to, this campaign season is going to be crazy. Yeah, and it's going to drag on and it's going to be mudslinging. And we're going to cover it well. Dan, you and I. Sounds good, Casey, but we are out of time.

Listeners can keep up with this ongoing story and more at thecentersquare.com. For Casey Harper, I'm Dan McAulb. Please subscribe. Thank you for listening.