Comer: Classified Documents Timeline Contradicts White House’s and President Biden’s Attorney’s Public Statements
WASHINGTON—House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) today is calling on White House Counsel Edward Siskel to provide documents and communications related to the discovery of classified documents at Penn Biden Center and is requesting transcribed interviews with five current and former White House officials who were involved with organizing, moving, and removing boxes that contained classified materials. The House Oversight Committee has obtained information through multiple transcribed interviews that contradicts the White House’s and President Biden’s personal attorney’s public statements about the discovery of classified documents at Penn Biden Center.
“The Committee on Oversight and Accountability is investigating President Biden’s mishandling of highly classified documents. The Committee has obtained information that contradicts important details from the White House’s and President Biden’s personal attorney’s statements about the discovery of documents at Penn Biden Center, including the location and security of the classified documents. The Committee has also learned that one of your predecessors as White House Counsel, Ms. Dana Remus, and other White House employees were central figures in the early stages of coordinating the organizing, moving, and removing of boxes that were later found to contain classified materials,” wrote Chairman Comer.
In January 2023, President Biden’s personal attorney, Bob Bauer, released a statement that included a timeline of events that began on November 2, 2022, with the unexpected discovery of Obama-Biden records at Penn Biden Center. The House Oversight Committee has learned, however, that the real timeline began in 2021. President Biden used significant federal resources, including five White House employees and a Department of Defense employee, to access and secure items at the Penn Biden Center.
“President Biden’s timeline was incomplete and misleading. It omitted months of communications, planning, and coordinating among multiple White House officials, Ms. [Kathy] Chung, Penn Biden Center employees, and President Biden’s personal attorneys to retrieve the boxes containing classified materials. The timeline also omitted multiple visits from at least five White House employees, including Dana Remus, Anthony Bernal, Ashley Williams, Annie Tomasini, and an unknown staffer. There is no reasonable explanation as to why this many White House employees and lawyers were so concerned with retrieving boxes they believed only contained personal documents and materials,” continued Chairman Comer. “The Committee believes the White House can provide important insight regarding the discrepancies between the official accounts released by the White House and President Biden’s attorney, and the explanations we have received through multiple transcribed interviews regarding the classified documents.”
Read the full letter to White House Counsel Edward Siskel here.
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