As House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) gets to work investigating the Biden administration for its many crises and mishandling of various issues, he's also trying to get to the bottom of President Joe Biden's mishandling of classified documents — but he keeps running into the same non-transparent Biden administration that has frustrated Americans with its lack of candor and apparent attempts to paper over the scandal.
This week, Comer was set to hold a transcribed interview with the general counsel of the National Archives to get more information on Biden's mishandling of sensitive materials, the timeline for revelations of their existence, and other information to be able to understand what actually happened amid stonewalling attempts from the White House.
But just as the rest of the Biden administration has avoided being truthful with the American people — until revealing leaks to mainstream media outlets provide new details — Comer found that what seems like a cover-up by the Biden administration meant even he was unable to get the information he sought. In an interview on Fox News Channel's "Hannity" on Wednesday night, Comer explained what happened.
"Right before the National Archives came in, they handed us a letter from the Department of Justice informing them and us that the general counsel for the National Archives wasn't allowed to say anything about the Biden documents," Comer said. "But we had about a three-plus hour transcribed interview with the general counsel and what we learned was there is a double-standard here with how Donald Trump was treated versus Joe Biden."
That double-standard has become apparent to most Americans already. A column last week — It's Time for the National Archives to Answer Some Questions — was even dedicated to the topic before Comer had called upon the National Archives to sit for a transcribed interview, highlighting the need to understand why the Archives handled Biden's possession of classified documents in a completely different manner than it handled Trump's documents at Mar-a-Lago.
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"If you go on the National Archives website, there's pages and pages of press releases and information about the FBI's raid into Mar-a-Lago and Donald Trump's possession of classified documents," Comer reminded Hannity, "but there's nothing on the website about Joe Biden. There wasn't any press release or anything on the website about Joe Biden," the Oversight chairman noted of the disparate treatment of the two leaders.
"So we asked the general counsel, 'Why were there no press releases sent on Joe Biden once it was determined that he had classified documents in his possession?' Comer explained. "The counsel said that he did do press releases, but he was ordered and told they couldn't be published." Well, how about that. Sounds even more cover-up-y than before.
"We did ask who gave him the order," Comer continued. "He said, 'I can't tell you that.'" How convenient.
As Comer noted, "there are only two people that could have given him those orders — and that's either the Department of Justice with [Attorney General] Merrick Garland or the White House with Joe Biden."
'DOUBLE STANDARD': House Oversight Chair James Comer tells "Hannity" that his meeting with the National Archives revealed that the Biden classified documents were treated "very differently" compared to those found in Trump's possession. pic.twitter.com/S8BylCcjYs
— Fox News (@FoxNews) February 1, 2023
"So it shows right there that this Department of Justice and this White House is interfering with this, and treating Donald Trump very differently than they're treating Joe Biden," Comer reiterated.
But the apparent Biden administration cover-up, or at least attempt to control the release of information as much as possible — efforts that it should be noted worked for months from before the 2022 midterm elections until someone starting leaking details of the scandal to mainstream outlets — didn't just come up in Comer's interview with the Archives' general counsel.
"We requested the same type of information on Joe Biden that my predecessor, Democrat Chairwoman Maloney, requested on Donald Trump," Comer explained of a letter he previously sent (covered by Townhall here). "National Archives gave them every bit of information she requested on Donald Trump, but they never gave me any information," he added of another example of stonewalling from the Biden administration evidently seeking to keep the truth hidden.
"Once again, the reasoning was the general counsel said he printed all the information, he answered all our questions, but he wasn't allowed to turn it over to us," Comer added. "The only people that could prohibit him from answering our request was either the Department of Justice or the White House."
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