House GOP threatens to investigate National Archives for being too hard on Trump over classified documents
James Comer speaking at the 2014 Boone County Republican Party Christmas Gala. (Gage Skidmore/Flickr)
February 10, 2023
House Republicans on the Oversight Committee are threatening to investigate the National Archives and Records Administration, alleging that they treated former President Donald Trump's possession of classified documents as more serious than that of President Joe Biden, reported Bloomberg on Friday.
"House Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer argued in a Jan. 11 letter that the Archives kept quiet the discovery of Biden’s classified materials days before the 2022 midterm elections. Meanwhile, Comer said, the Archives 'instigated a public and unprecedented FBI raid at Mar-a-Lago,' Trump’s Florida residence," reported Jason Leopold. "The letters were released to Bloomberg and other outlets in response to Freedom of Information Act requests. Comer had released his letter to the archives in January."
“NARA’s public enforcement of the Presidential Records Act against former President Trump while failing to disclose violations by President Biden to Committee Republicans and the American public raises concerns about inconsistent policy and procedures at the agency that creates the appearance of political bias,” wrote Comer.
However, as Bloomberg notes, there were key differences in the Biden and Trump classified document cases that made Trump's conduct more serious — something legal experts have noted for weeks.
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"Trump rejected the Archives’ request to hand over documents in a battle that lasted a year, finally prompting the Justice Department to obtain a search warrant and to send the FBI to his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida to seize the papers. Trump has claimed he should be able to keep the materials and they are personal because he declassified them in his thoughts before he left office," said the report. By contrast, Biden's team "cooperated with the Justice Department and the Archives and invited the FBI to come retrieve the documents" after Biden's own lawyers uncovered documents at the president's former Penn State office from the time he was vice president, and there is no indication either Biden or NARA even knew they were there.
Despite the key differences in these cases, Attorney General Merrick Garland has appointed special counsels to investigate each case, as an added measure to prevent any appearance of unequal treatment.