Archives Release Letters With Biden Attorney Over Secret Papers
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(Bloomberg) -- The National Archives and Records Administration released dozens of emails Friday that show agency officials working with a personal lawyer for President Joe Biden to recover documents discovered at Biden’s think tank.
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The emails indicate that Biden’s legal team was in close communication with Gary Stern, the National Archives’ general counsel, and other Archives officials about the records and fielded numerous questions about whether any were stored in other locations.
“In terms of taking custody to any papers, yes, we are prepared to facilitate whatever access you need to accomplish NARA taking custody of whatever materials it seems appropriate,” the personal lawyer, Bob Bauer, wrote to Stern after the documents were found last November.
The Biden team discovered the documents days before the Nov. 8 midterm elections but their misplacement wasn’t revealed until two months later.
In another email sent to Bauer, dated Nov. 7, 2022, Stern asked whether arrangements could be made for the Archives staff to return to the Penn-Biden Center in Washington “to assess the remaining boxes and take custody of whichever ones we deem appropriate for further review.”
Bauer responded that it was fine for the Archives to send staff to the facility the following day, adding: “We are also currently checking to determine whether there are any similar materials in the Pennsylvania Penn-Biden space, and we will report back to you today.”
Stern added in another email sent to Patrick Moore, another Biden personal attorney, on the evening of Nov. 7, “Please ensure that the boxes in your office in Boston remain secure in a locked space and are not accessed by anyone.”
In December, Moore was appointed first assistant attorney general of Massachusetts.
The 74 pages of emails were released by the Archives in response to a Freedom of Information Act request by Bloomberg and other news organizations and cover Nov. 7 to Nov. 10, after the records at the Penn-Biden center were found.
The Archives has since referred the case to the Justice Department after learning that Biden and Trump had classified documents in unsecure locations.
The emails were released on the same day that FBI agents discovered a document with classified markings during a five-hour search of former Vice President Mike Pence’s Indiana home, adding to a batch discovered last month.
Attorney General Merrick Garland later appointed a special counsel, Robert Hur, to investigate Biden’s possible mishandling of classified documents, some that date to the 1970s, when he was a junior senator from Delaware.
The emails are in contrast to the communications between the Archives and former President Donald Trump’s team. His attorneys fought the Archives over returning documents for a year, finally prompting the Justice Department to obtain a search warrant and send FBI agents to his Florida resort at Mar-a-Lago to seize them.
The House Oversight Committee, now controlled by Republicans, has indicated it is investigating the Archives for possible political bias in its handling of the two presidents’ cases.
Garland has also appointed a special counsel, Jack Smith, to investigate Trump’s handling of classified material, as well as his involvement regarding the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the US Capitol.
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