- House Republicans could vote this week to formalize the impeachment inquiry
- On Monday, the National Archives said it would allow access to emails
The National Archives and Record Administration announced Monday that it will give Republicans access to 62,000 pages of unredacted emails and attachments for the impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden.
They date from Biden's time as vice president and contain messages sent under pseudonyms and references to Hunter and Burisma, a Ukrainian energy company where his son was a board member.
Some emails were released in redacted form earlier this year, prompting accusations of cover-up.
In August, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer asked for unrestricted access.
In a letter dated Monday, the Archives said it had completed a review and would turn over 1,799 emails and attachments.
House Oversight and Accountability Committee Chairman James Comer in August requested access to thousands of unredacted emails sent while Biden was vice president
'The data will be delivered via a secure, web-based file sharing portal; my colleague will send the links to your staff individually,” wrote Gary Stern, NARA general counsel.
He also said the documents contained phone numbers, addresses and other non-public information, which he said should not be published.
House Republicans are planning a vote this week to formalize their impeachment inquiry.
The investigation has not yet found direct evidence that Biden acted inappropriately or tried to use his influence to help family members make profits.
Comer said, “The White House is trying to create the appearance of cooperation after two brave IRS whistleblowers provided information showing that Joe Biden used an alias as vice president to email directly to Hunter Biden's business partner.
“Just last week, President Biden lied again when confronted with information that he was in contact with his family's business associates.
“The White House must comply with all our requests for records from Joe Biden's time as vice president and all other committee requests related to the impeachment inquiry. Anything less is a hindrance.”
Republicans are investigating whether Biden also used his position to pressure the Justice Department to go easy on his son, and whether he was involved in family members' foreign business dealings.
The White House has repeatedly rejected these efforts, saying Republicans cannot substantiate their claims.
In a letter dated Monday, the Archives said it had completed a review and would turn over 1,799 emails and attachments. The letter was first obtained by the Washington Examiner
“Faced with this level of 'failure theater,' the same extreme Republicans in the House of Representatives now appear to be trying to fabricate claims of 'obstruction' and 'obstruction' to rationalize their unlawful so-called 'impeachment investigation,'” according to a recent memo was distributed by White House Oversight Spokesman Ian Sams.
“Some Republicans in the House of Representatives are even relying on these false claims as a predicate to vote to formally authorize such an investigation.
“The problem: claims of 'obstruction' and 'obstruction' are easily refuted by the facts.”
He continued to say that House Republicans had access to more than 35,000 pages of private financial records, more than 2,000 pages of Treasury Department financial reports and at least 36 hours of witness interviews.