House Oversight Committee Republicans told the National Archives that the “seeming weaponization of the federal government against President Biden’s political rivals cannot go unchecked.”
The House Oversight Republicans, led by ranking member James Comer (R-KY), wrote their letter to Debra Steidel Wall, the acting Archivist of the United States. The Republicans demanded to know what part the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) played in the FBI raid against Trump:
The Biden Administration is continuing to weaponize the FBI against political rivals. To better understand the circumstances and NARA’s role, if any, in the FBI raid, Oversight Republicans request an immediate briefing on this matter. Additionally, we request that you ensure preservation of all documents and communications referring or relating to the warrant executed by the FBI on August 8, 2022 at Mar-a-Lago.
The House Republicans noted that the FBI and NARA’s attempt to enforce the Presidential Records Act (PRA) is “so contrary to the customary treatment of former administrations that it begs scrutiny into whether a political motivation underlay the raid.”
The Oversight Republicans noted that all recent administrations have had some Presidential Records Act violations, including when “Hillary and President Bill Clinton ‘had to return thousands of dollars worth of gifts … [and the Clintons left the White House with $28,000 in furnishings’ from the White House.”
They also pointed to then-Secretary of State Clinton’s handling of classified material on her private email server:
NARA’s singling out of President Trump’s handling of official records stands starkly in contrast to the way NARA has treated far clearer violations committed by politicians and officials who are not Republicans. As has been widely reported for years, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton “did not have a government email address during her four-year tenure at the State Department[,]”6 aides “took no actions to have her personal emails preserved…as required by the Federal Records Act[,]”7 and emails included classified information,8 but faced no repercussions—let alone an FBI raid—which demands an explanation for the disparate treatment received by President Trump, her once-rival. Since Hillary Clinton has never been President of the United States, she had a much more limited ability to declassify documents than President Trump, who was chief executive. Secretary Clinton also deleted over 31,000 emails after receiving a subpoena for them by the House Select Committee on Benghazi, which was met with the FBI’s apathy. 9 Committee Republicans are content to leave Secretary Clinton to her retirement, yet the FBI and NARA’s behavior towards President Trump deserves an explanation as to why the latter deserved a raid by the FBI.
The Republicans continued, “The seeming weaponization of the federal government against President Biden’s political rivals cannot go unchecked, and if NARA is working to further these efforts, it will be only the latest agency to lose its credibility in the eyes of the American people under the Biden Administration. To assist Committee Republicans in conducting oversight over NARA’s participation in this shameful episode in American history, please make arrangements to provide a Member-level briefing as soon as possible, but no later than August 17, 2022.” [Emphasis added]
Sean Moran is a congressional reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @SeanMoran3.
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