The U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Accountability said Tuesday that the National Archives and Records Administration failed to meet a deadline set by the committee to turn over materials for further investigation of the classified documents found in locations tied to President Joe Biden.
“The National Archives has not produced the requested documents to the Committee at this time,” a committee spokesperson told Axios. “Chairman Comer’s request still stands and anticipates moving forward with a transcribed interview with NARA’s general counsel soon.”
The committee spokesperson further noted to The Washington Examiner that Republican investigators initially anticipated conducting a transcribed interview with the federal agency, which would provide a timeline and how the classified information was handled.
Republican lawmakers launched the committee earlier this month after classified documents connected with Biden’s time as vice president were first found by his personal lawyers in his private office at the Penn Biden Center, a think tank in Washington, D.C., just before the midterm elections last year.
Since then, Biden’s attorneys have located more classified documents at Biden’s home in Wilmington on three separate occasions: an unspecified number found in his garage on December 20, one in Biden’s study on January 11, and five more found in the study on January 12.
Rep. James Comer (R-KY), chair of the House Oversight Committee, sent letters addressed to the National Archives and the White House Counsel’s Office on January 10, in which the committee demanded the material due to “Biden’s failure to return highly classified records from his time as vice president.”
Comer said that National Archives “instigated a public and unprecedented FBI raid at Mar-a-Lago — former President Trump’s home— to retrieve presidential records.”
“[Its] inconsistent treatment of recovering classified records held by former President Trump and President Biden raises questions about political bias at the agency,” he added, according to Axios.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) questioned a key detail in Biden’s classified document scandal during an interview Friday with Fox News.
McCarthy asked why Biden had his lawyers move him out of the office.
“Yes, we are, and you’re missing one question: They say the attorneys found these documents,” he said. “Who told the attorneys to look there?”
“Somebody else knew the documents were there all along. Otherwise, why would the attorneys even look?” McCarthy asked. “Whoever hires lawyers to be movers?”
Biden responded to the scandal last week by saying that he has “no regrets” over his actions and that getting questions about the investigation “quite frankly bugs” him.
“We’re fully cooperating, looking forward to getting this resolved quickly,” Biden claimed. “I think you’re gonna find there’s nothing there. I have no regrets. I’m following what the lawyers have told me they want me to do — that’s exactly what we’re doing. There’s no there, there.”