ANOTHER senior Biden official under fire for ‘use of pseudonym’ in emails as Republicans launch investigation
Whistleblowers revealed that former Secretary of State John Kerry used a secret email address when he was the country’s top diplomat under President Obama.
The allegations mean that Kerry, who served as President Biden’s climate envoy, is yet another top Democratic official to have used a secret alias.
Then-Vice President Biden sent or received 82,000 pages of private email exchanges through three accounts with assumed names during their time in office.
Hillary Clinton was also embroiled in a scandal when she was secretary of state under Obama for storing top-secret files on a personal Web server.
The whistleblowers discovered Kerry’s secret email to Republican Sens. Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin. The two are now demanding that Secretary of State Antony Blinken take action on the allegations.
Whistleblowers claim Kerry used a secret email while secretary of state
“We want to know whether then-Secretary Kerry has properly complied with all federal records laws and regulations regarding his official email communications and whether responses to relevant Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests ) have properly included that email address in exhibits for applicants,” the lawmakers wrote to Blinken.
“It is our understanding that then-Secretary of State John Kerry used the email address ‘SESTravel1@state.gov,'” the letter continued.
The two Republicans claim the secret email address would have avoided FOIA requests designed to ensure transparency of federal data.
They also provided what they say is a precedent for Blinken to take action — former Obama officials like Clinton and Biden, who have since been investigated for their handling of documents and use of a secret email address.
“Since 2015, we have raised concerns about the State Department’s compliance with federal records laws in light of Secretary Clinton’s improper use of a non-government server for government business, causing her mishandling of highly classified information , but was still acquitted by US authorities. The Obama/Biden Administration FBI,” Johnson and Grassley wrote.
“Since July 2021, we have also raised concerns about then-Vice President Joe Biden’s use of non-governmental email and pseudonymous government email for official business and his compliance with federal records laws. To date, the Biden administration has failed to address Joe Biden’s compliance with federal records laws.”
This image, provided by Sens. Grassley and Johnson, shows Kerry’s secret email ‘SESTravel1’ in response to an email to State Department official Victoria Nuland. Nuland refers to her “boss” who could have been Kerry at the time
After receiving the whistleblowers’ complaint, Sens. Johnson and Grassley sent a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken asking him to investigate the matter.
The Republicans note in their letter how Joe Biden also used a secret email when he was vice president under Barak Obama
The Republican lawmakers also noted in their letter to Blinken how Hillary Clinton used a private email server to store federal documents
The new complaint comes weeks after Grassley and Johnson unsealed another whistleblower complaint alleging that Kerry quashed FBI investigations into individuals linked to Iran’s nuclear program to improve U.S.-Iranian relations at the time.
“Informations provided to our offices indicate that the Obama/Biden Administration’s State Department, under the leadership of John Kerry, has actively and persistently interfered with FBI operations related to lawful arrests of known terrorists, members of Iranian proliferation networks and other criminals who supplied material. support for Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs,” the senators wrote in a May 22 joint statement.
“The records also show that DOJ and FBI leadership apparently allowed this to happen until the Trump administration changed course.”
Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, has a history of working with federal whistleblowers
The letter Grassley and Johnson sent to Blinken on Tuesday asked the secretary to turn over any documents to or from the ‘SESTravel1@state.gov’ that Kerry may have used.
They also demanded to know whether Kerry’s email correspondence was included in the FOIA requests about his role as the US’s chief diplomat.
Republicans requested a response by July 1.
The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.