Two hawk-eyed Senators are asking the Attorney General and his special counsel a big question: Did you guys just pull another fast one?
Sens. Chuck Grassley and Ron Johnson say the same special counsel report that called Biden forgetful, old, and guilty of stealing and keeping highly classified documents left out a big chunk of evidence. They’re wondering what happened to nine boxes full of documents that Joe Biden illegally took and then sent to his lawyer’s office, and that were then picked up by the National Archives.
The contents of those files and documents were not in the Hur report, and they want to know why.
Last yr in response 2 Grassley-Johnson oversight the Natl Archives said they picked up 9 boxes of potentially classified Biden docs & FBI reviewed the contents Where were those 9 boxes mentioned in Hur’s report? NOWHERE Im asking for an explanation We need 2 know what was in them
— Chuck Grassley (@ChuckGrassley) February 12, 2024
Grassley and Johnson wrote a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland to ask him what happened to those documents.
Oddly, Special Counsel Hur’s report did not mention NARA’s retrieval of the nine boxes from Mr. Moore’s office. This apparent omission is significant given that, according to NARA, the Department of Justice requested that NARA recover the boxes. In fact, in March 2023, NARA informed our offices that “while NARA has not yet reviewed the contents of the nine boxes, the FBI has.”
So, the senators wonder, what did the FBI do with the documents “reviewed” from this nine-box tranche of purloined materials?
If the FBI did review the contents of the boxes, it is unclear what was found, to include any classified information, and whether the FBI informed Special Counsel Hur’s office of its findings. Further, it is unclear if Special Counsel Hur had any awareness of or reviewed the information contained in these nine boxes.
Related: It’s Back to the Supreme Court for Donald Trump in Presidential Immunity Case
And did they stage photos to make them look like this?
I wonder if the FBI made them look like this?
Sorry, couldn’t resist. pic.twitter.com/Qisjd0Fpi0— Victoria Taft, The Adult in the Room, FITF Squad (@VictoriaTaft) February 13, 2024
What are the missing documents? In letters to the National Archives (NARA) in February and last August 2023, Grassley and Johnson called on the head of NARA to explain what happened to the documents containing all of Joe Biden’s pseudonyms and email accounts he used that they received from Biden’s attorney, Pat Moore.
Regarding the discovery of Biden records in the Boston office of Pat Moore, as of March 7, 2023, NARA informed our offices that it had not reviewed the contents of the boxes found at Mr. Moore’s Boston office.8 Has NARA reviewed the contents of these boxes? If so, did any of the Biden records discovered at Mr. Moore’s Boston office include the pseudonyms and email addresses listed below that then-Vice President Biden used? a. “[email protected]”; b. “[email protected]”; c. “JRB Ware”; and d. “67stingray”. If not, is NARA confident that the “approximately 5,138 email messages, 25 electronic files and 200 pages of potentially responsive records” are the complete
The Senators criticized Biden’s “lack of transparency” in handling these records. And it looks like there’s more opacity from the DOJ, special counsel, and FBI — surprise, surprise.
Grassley and Johnson said it sure would be a shame if anything happened to those documents to prevent special counsel Hur from seeing them.
It would be extremely troubling if Special Counsel Hur failed to investigate the contents of these nine boxes particularly given that we first publicly revealed the existence of these specific boxes on March 27, 2023—nearly one year ago.
Let’s review: The National Archives sought special permissions from Joe Biden to trigger the DOJ and FBI raid on Donald Trump’s private home to take back documents he’d declassified as president and held onto as former president of the United States. Now that same NARA seems blasé about handling documents they got back from Biden’s attorney. They say they didn’t review them. They let the FBI “review” them. Those documents didn’t make it into the Hur report. And now they’re apparently missing?
Oh, FBI, what have you done?