The National Archives and Record Administration (NARA) has now been drawn into the expanding House Oversight Committee’s probe into the Biden family pay-to-play scandal. On August 17, committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) wrote to NARA head Colleen Shogam, demanding access to Joe Biden’s communications with Ukrainian officials while he served as vice president. The big revelation behind this request was the unearthing of a 2016 email from a White House staffer to Biden regarding a planned phone call with then-Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. That seems innocuous but for the fact that the message went to a private email account Biden maintained under the pseudonym Robert L. Peters. Raising even more questions is the fact that Joe Biden’s son, Hunter, was copied on the communication. These Biden emails could provide House Republicans with a significant piece of evidence in the now impossible-to-ignore corruption scandal.
Apparently, the fictitious Mr. Peters was just one alter ego Biden used. Comer also wants to see “any document or communication in which a pseudonym for Vice President Joe Biden was included either as a sender, recipient, copied or was included in the contents of the document or communication, including but not limited to Robert Peters, Robin Ware, and JRB Ware.”
The proverbial plot thickens. “Boss–8:45am prep for 9am phone call with Pres Poroshenko,” the White House aide, John Flynn, wrote to then-Vice President Joe Biden. “Then we’re off to Rhode Island for infrastructure event and then Wilmington for UDel commencement. Nate will have your draft remarks delivered later tonight or with your press clips in the morning.”
(Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
This email and other redacted communications were made public in January by NARA, pursuant to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the Obama presidential archives. Comer now wants to see the full and unredacted communications relating to Ukraine “in which Hunter Biden, Eric Schwerin, or Devon Archer was included either as a sender, recipient, copied, or was included in the contents of the document or communication…” Archer and Schwerin were Hunter Biden’s business partners.
Incriminating Biden Emails – How Many More?
It’s hard to think of an innocent reason why a senior federal government official – indeed, a vice president – would be using a pseudonym in communications relating to a foreign head of state. Harder still to believe that there was any good reason for that vice president’s son and his business associates to be included as recipients on such emails. Could it be that Joe Biden was conducting some “off the books” negotiations with the Ukrainians in which his son had a vested interest? Right now, that’s speculation – but it does seem to be the simplest answer.
Democrats and their secret emails. Losing 2016 presidential contender Hillary Clinton was tripped up by her use of a private email server. For that, she was never indicted or even seriously investigated even though classified information was found in some of the emails on her server. The Biden emails NARA has been told to hand over may prove far more consequential. It seems likely that NARA will fight Republicans’ request to see these documents – or at least stall for time. That will serve only to further incriminate Joe Biden, of course. If even the Oversight Committee – which has a constitutional duty to investigate executive branch affairs if there is a legitimate legislative purpose – is not allowed to see the communications of a former vice president, then something is very wrong.
Democrats launched multiple investigations targeting the Trump administration and the events of Jan. 6, 2021, without any legislative purpose. That is evident by the fact that none of those publicity stunts resulted in new laws. In his letter, Comer addressed that issue in no uncertain terms: “The Committee seeks to craft legislative solutions aimed at deficiencies it has identified in the current legal framework regarding ethics laws and disclosure of financial interests related to the immediate family members of Vice Presidents and Presidents – deficiencies that may place American national security and interests at risk.” Addressing these new developments, Comer wrote in a statement:
“Joe Biden has stated there was ‘an absolute wall’ between his family’s foreign business schemes and his duties as Vice President, but evidence reveals that access was wide open for his family’s influence peddling. The National Archives must provide these unredacted records to further our investigation into the Biden family’s corruption.
“We already have evidence of then-Vice President Biden speaking, dining, and having coffee with his son’s foreign business associates… We also know that Hunter Biden and his associates were informed of then-Vice President Biden’s official government duties in countries where they had a financial interest.”
The Biden emails are the next chapter in the saga of how the first family enriched itself by trading access to the office of the vice president. At this point, it seems we are past “apparently” or “perhaps” when it comes to leveling such an allegation. The preponderance of evidence is too great – and it continues to grow.
