James Comer given access to 14 Biden VP emails as House GOP expects ‘thousands’ more
September 21, 2023 07:16 PM
Rep. James Comer (R-KY), chairman of the House Oversight Committee, has reportedly received unrestricted access to a batch of emails concerning then-Vice President Joe Biden from the National Archives and Records Administration.
This is the latest step in Comer’s investigation into Biden that rolls into House Republicans’ impeachment inquiry into the president. House GOP leaders believe Biden benefited from his son Hunter Biden‘s foreign business dealings.
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The National Archives unredacted the emails for Comer and the committee, but the emails do not provide any evidence that Joe Biden personally benefited from his son’s business deals, sources familiar with the situation told Politico.
Comer sent a letter to the archives in early September requesting unredacted records and emails that he believes show his communications team worked with one of Hunter Biden’s business associates to squash stories about Burisma, the Ukrainian gas company of which Hunter Biden sat on the board.
The emails that Comer and House Oversight members reviewed included schedules for family get-togethers and a message where Ukrainians praised the president’s now-deceased son, Beau Biden.
One email showed multiple Georgian women said they found Biden “sexy” during a 2009 trip that included a stop in Ukraine. “Must-read email below,” read an email forwarded by Biden’s then-national security adviser Tony Blinken to then-Vice President Biden and his sons, Hunter and Beau, per Politico. The email’s subject line: “Biden as new Georgian sex symbol.”
The batch of emails received by the House Oversight Committee represents 14 pages out of thousands that the committee is expecting to receive from the National Archives. A Beau Biden speech in Ukraine, noted in one email, is a data point showing the Biden family’s activity in the region, a Republican source told Politico.
“The National Archives has only produced 14 pages of what is expected to be thousands of pages if the Biden White House doesn’t try to withhold them from Congress. It’s silly for anyone to try to draw conclusions from 14 pages of documents that the White House cleared to give to Congress, especially when it contains an email that opines on foreign nationals thinking Joe Biden is sexy,” the House Oversight Committee said in a statement to the Washington Examiner.
“These are the emails Joe Biden wants Americans to see. The Oversight Committee will continue to follow the money and evidence to hold President Biden accountable for his abuse of public office.”
One of the emails from June 14, 2016, shows then-Vice President Biden scheduled to meet with Ukraine’s prime minister. On May 27, 2016, Hunter Biden and his father were copied in an email scheduling a call with former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.
Comer has previously pointed to that scheduled call, which was emailed to the president under a pseudonym email address, as evidence. The Kentucky representative claimed that then-Vice President Biden was sending a secret message to Hunter Biden letting him know that he was about to fire a Ukrainian prosecutor investigating Burisma, an incident that Republicans have latched on to in their investigation into the Biden family.
However, the Washington Post reported that the prosecutor had been fired two months before the call that was scheduled for May 27, 2016.
Comer is still awaiting responses on numerous records requests, including Hunter Biden’s use of Air Force Two and Marine Two during Joe Biden’s vice presidency and emails from Biden aides regarding Hunter Biden and all of the president’s executive calendars.
While Comer predicted that the emails would be a bombshell and reveal “pretty damaging evidence,” this email batch does not appear to aid Republicans in their impeachment inquiry so far.
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House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) announced the party would be opening an impeachment inquiry on Sept. 12, stating GOP leaders found multiple pieces of evidence that “paint a picture of corruption.” Rank-and-file conservatives have pushed for an impeachment inquiry as part of their demands for a continuing resolution to avoid a government shutdown.