House Republicans probe Biden documents, ask if Hunter had access
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[January 14, 2023]
By Gram Slattery and David Morgan
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives
launched an investigation on Friday into the Justice Department's
handling of improperly stored classified documents possessed by
President Joe Biden, and questioned whether his son, Hunter, had access
to any.
In a Jan. 13 letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland, top Republicans
on the House Judiciary Committee said the Justice Department's
appointment of Robert Hur as special counsel for the case this week
raised "fundamental oversight questions." They demanded all relevant
documents and communications between the department, the FBI, the White
House and Biden's attorneys.
The letter came a day after Biden's legal team acknowledged it had found
classified documents relating to his time as vice president in the Obama
administration at his Delaware home, including some in his garage. Aides
previously found another batch of classified documents at his residence,
and at a Washington think tank he was associated with.
Earlier on Friday, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer wrote
to the White House asking whether Hunter Biden had access to classified
documents found at the president's private residence.
"It is unclear when the department first came to learn about the
existence of these documents, and whether it actively concealed this
information from the public on the eve of the 2022 elections," House
Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan and fellow panel Republican Mike Johnson
told Garland in their letter.
"We expect your complete cooperation with our inquiry," they wrote,
setting a Jan. 27 deadline for compliance.
White House and Justice Department officials were not immediately
available for comment.
The two Republican probes present a distraction for the Democratic
president, who has criticized his Republican predecessor Donald Trump's
handling of classified material, and could cast a shadow over Biden as
both he and Trump gear up for a possible 2024 election rematch.
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U.S. President Joe Biden and his son
Hunter Biden depart from Holy Spirit Catholic Church after attending
Mass on St. Johns Island, South Carolina, U.S., August 13, 2022.
REUTERS/Joshua Roberts/File Photo
It also provides fodder for House Republicans, who have pledged to
focus their new majority on a number of investigations into the
Biden administration.
In addition to examining Biden's handling of classified documents,
Republicans are preparing to probe Hunter Biden's past business
dealings in Ukraine.
In Comer's letter to the White House, the House Oversight Committee
chairman said the home where the documents were found was listed as
Hunter Biden's address on his driver's license as recently as 2018.
"The Committee is concerned President Biden stored classified
documents at the same location his son resided while engaging in
international business deals with adversaries of the United States,"
the letter read.
Republicans have sought to compare the investigation of Biden's
handling of classified documents to the ongoing probe into how Trump
handled classified documents after his presidency.
But their cases are not the same, legal experts say.
The White House said Biden's attorneys found a small number of
classified documents and turned them over after discovery. Trump
resisted doing so until an August FBI search turned up about 100
classified documents, raising questions about whether Trump or his
staff obstructed the investigation.
(Reporting by Gram Slattery and David Morgan; Editing by Richard
Cowan and Josie Kao)
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