House Oversight Committee Reveals Early Inspection of President Biden’s Papers at Penn Biden Center

The House Oversight Committee, led by Republicans, claims to have uncovered evidence suggesting that a White House employee inspected President Biden’s papers at the Penn Biden Center in March 2021, much earlier than previously known. The committee is now seeking interviews with several current and former senior White House officials as part of its expanding investigation into how President Biden handled classified documents from his time as vice president.

It’s important to note that there is currently no evidence to suggest that White House employees visiting the Penn Biden Center noticed or removed any classified documents from among President Biden’s papers before their discovery on November 2, 2022.

In a letter addressed to White House counsel Edward Siskel, Committee Chairman James Comer, a Republican from Kentucky, pointed out that the timeline provided by Mr. Biden’s personal attorney omitted critical details about months of communications, planning, and coordination.

According to the letter, a Penn Biden Center employee informed the committee that on March 18, 2021, senior White House aide Annie Tomasini conducted an inventory of President Biden’s documents and materials stored at the center, where he had a private office following his vice presidency. The same witness revealed that on October 13, 2022, Ashley Williams, the deputy director of Oval Office Operations, removed “a few” of Mr. Biden’s boxes.

The White House has stated that all relevant documents were either transferred to the National Archives or the Justice Department. President Biden’s personal attorney, Bob Bauer, previously asserted that classified documents were first discovered at the Penn Biden Center on November 2, 2022. Additional documents with classification markings were later found at the president’s Delaware residence in January.

The House Oversight Committee has conducted three witness interviews, and on five different occasions, White House employees, including former White House Counsel Dana Remus and the president’s former assistant Kathy Chung, who is now a Department of Defense employee, visited the Penn Biden Center to take inventory, pack up, or remove materials. These visits spanned from March 2021 to mid-October 2022. The committee, however, has not yet released full transcripts of these witness interviews.

Chairman Comer’s letter further questions the rationale behind the high level of interest from White House employees and lawyers in retrieving boxes that were believed to contain only personal documents and materials. This raises concerns and suspicions about the nature of the documents stored at the center.

As a sign that the committee’s investigation is expanding, it is now requesting transcribed interviews with key individuals, including Dana Remus, Ashley Williams, Annie Tomasini, Anthony Bernal (a top adviser to the first lady), and Katie Reilly (a West Wing aide). Additionally, the committee is seeking documentation and communication related to the documents.

It is worth noting that the committee has already interviewed Kathy Chung, who served as then-Vice President Biden’s assistant.

In response to these developments, a spokeswoman for Democrats on the House Oversight Committee expressed concern about the focus on President Biden rather than addressing issues related to former President Trump, who is facing allegations of retaining highly classified documents and defying court-ordered subpoenas. The spokeswoman highlighted President Biden’s cooperation with the Special Counsel’s investigation, including participating in a two-day interview and opening access to his Penn Biden Center office and private residence for investigators.

As of now, attorneys for Dana Remus and Bob Bauer have not provided any comments, and William W. Taylor, representing Kathy Chung, has made no statements.

The Oversight Committee staff members have yet to review more than two dozen classified documents in question but intend to make a request to do so in the near future.

These recent developments come shortly after Special Counsel Robert Hur personally interviewed President Biden as part of the Justice Department’s ongoing investigation into the matter. This investigation began in January and appears to be reaching a conclusion. President Biden has pledged his full cooperation with Hur’s inquiry, while the White House has refrained from commenting on Chairman Comer’s letter, citing the ongoing special counsel investigation.

In January, White House lawyer Richard Sauber revealed that a small number of documents with classified markings were found when Mr. Biden’s personal attorneys were preparing to vacate office space at the Penn Biden Center in Washington, D.C. This discovery is significant as the Presidential Records Act mandates that all presidential and vice-presidential documents be handed over to the National Archives at the end of an administration’s term.

In a parallel development, former President Donald Trump is currently facing 40 counts of illegally retaining classified material and obstructing efforts to retrieve it, to which he has pleaded not guilty. Interestingly, Oversight Committee Republicans have shown little interest in investigating Trump’s handling of classified material.

In summary, the House Oversight Committee’s investigation into the handling of classified documents by President Biden and the White House is deepening, with new revelations of early inspections at the Penn Biden Center. The investigation’s expansion and the ongoing Justice Department inquiry suggest a heightened focus on this issue in the coming months.