UPDATE: The BuzzFeed News reporter who shared the National Archives letter notes that President Obama ultimately did release requested documents. According to his office, he did so "in the interest of countering the misinformation campaign" against presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden.
Sen. Paul was asked about my story yesterday on Obama’s letter to the National Archives, saying "it's not surprising to me that he would try to keep a lid on it and not let any records come to the public."
— Emma Loop (@LoopEmma) May 6, 2020
Except Obama allowed the records to be released.https://t.co/4FLgmuwbWY
Here’s the story, which explains why Obama allowed the records to be released and reveals that, after he wrote the letter, the National Archives turned over 9,400 pages of records in response to the Republican senators’ request.https://t.co/sSJ5HOTsd6 pic.twitter.com/ODotnbnaDV
— Emma Loop (@LoopEmma) May 6, 2020
ORIGINAL POST
Back in November, Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Ron Johnson (R-WI) asked the National Archives and Records Administration for Obama White House documents related to former Vice President Biden and his son Hunter's work for a corrupt Ukrainian gas company. The Office of Barack Obama responded in March by sending a letter to the National Archives condemning the request.
Former President Obama argues in the letter that the GOP-led investigation is “without precedent” and an abuse of power. He also asserted that the probe was giving "credence" to a Russian disinformation campaign that was trying to stifle and deflect reports that the Kremlin interfered in our elections.
Scoop: In a letter to the National Archives, former president Barack Obama blasted the Senate GOP investigation into Joe Biden and alleged Ukrainian election interference, calling it an effort to "to give credence to a Russian disinformation campaign."https://t.co/sSJ5HOTsd6 pic.twitter.com/wL58uwP3mt
— Emma Loop (@LoopEmma) May 5, 2020
Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) didn't seem all that surprised by Obama's letter and came to an immediate conclusion.
"There's been rumors for quite a while that people within the Obama administration knew about the corruption problems with Hunter Biden, that they warned the vice president, and maybe even the president about it," Sen. Paul said on Fox News on Wednesday. "I think there could be a smoking gun, that there's actually a record of some of these complaints that were going on at the time."
Paul referenced reports that have suggested that people around Joe Biden were warning him "this Hunter Biden thing looks bad," but he never took action.
"I think even President Obama knew about this so it's not surprising to me that he would try to keep a lid on it and not let any records come to the public," Paul concluded.
In recent months Sens. Grassley and Johnson have also sought Hunter Biden's travel records for any clues about his business activity in Ukraine.
The Committee on Finance and Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs (“the committees”) are reviewing potential conflicts of interest posed by the business activities of Hunter Biden and his associates during the Obama administration, particularly with respect to his business activities in Ukraine and China. In addition to several letters that the committees have sent to other agencies as part of that inquiry, the Committee on Finance also has written to the Department of Treasury regarding potential conflicts of interest in the Obama-era CFIUS-approved transaction which gave control of Henniges, an American maker of anti-vibration technologies with military applications, to a Chinese government-owned aviation company and China-based investment firm with established ties to the Chinese government. That transaction included Rosemont Seneca Partners, a company formed in 2009 by Hunter Biden, Christopher Heinz, and others.
President Trump's request to have new Ukrainian President Zelensky look into the Biden controversy was the catalyst for his impeachment trial. He was eventually acquitted.
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