House investigators this week threatened to use “compulsory” methods against the White House, which for five months has refused to allow the release of draft versions of President Joe Biden’s 2015 anti-corruption speech in Ukraine . The draft speeches are key for Republicans who have cited the firing of Ukrainian Attorney General Viktor Shokin for investigating Burisma, the energy company that paid millions to Hunter Biden, as evidence of the state’s international influence peddling scheme. first family.
The House Committees on Oversight and Accountability, Judiciary, and Means and
Means sent a letter to White House counsel Edward Siskel, demanding Wednesday that he approve the National Archives and Records Administration’s (NARA) release of Biden’s draft calls. for the end of corruption At Ukrainian Rada.
The Oversight Committee, led by Chairman James Comer, asked NARA to turn over “all versions” of Biden’s 2015 report in August to strengthen its investigation into Biden family corruption. The request, which the committees noted Comer fully complied with federal law to do, came shortly after Biden associate Devon Archer admitted that the then-vice president had spoken with his son’s foreign business partners.
It already exists “overwhelming evidence” – including Shokin’s corroboration – that Biden exploited his authority within the Obama administration to orchestrate the dismissal of the prosecutor for the benefit of the company that was paying his son.
In 2018, Biden bragged that Shokin was fired because he used his powers as vice president to threaten to withhold $1 billion in U.S. loans from Petro Poroshenko, then president of Ukraine.
THE FD-1023 The form that the FBI desperately tried to hide from Republican investigators also contained testimony suggesting that the head of Burisma had coordinated with the Bidens to end Shokin’s investigation. THE “highly credible” The confidential human source who compiled the information for the form reported that Burisma head Mykola Zlochevsky claimed to have 17 recordsincluding two from Joe Biden, who prove that he “was somehow forced to pay the Bidens to secure the firing of Ukrainian Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin.”
House investigators still want to see draft versions of Biden’s corruption speech because they believe it will help them in their impeachment investigation of Biden.
NARA, which previously released former President Donald Trump’s presidential records to Congress “after only a month of review by the White House,” refused because the Biden White House three times extended its review period. examination by decree.
“Such a lengthy delay in processing a distinct and limited category of records is unacceptable and appears to represent an attempt to obstruct the Committees’ legitimate investigation,” the letter said. “These delaying tactics must stop and the White House must authorize NARA to release these documents immediately. »
During its first extension in September, the White House justified its delay to NARA by saying it would coordinate the release of Biden’s 2015 speech with Comer.
“To date, the Oversight Committee has no record of anyone from the White House attempting to contact the Committee to ‘explore’ any accommodation regarding these documents, casting considerable doubt as to whether the “The White House has requested these extensions in good faith or whether it is simply attempting to delay the production of this very limited tranche of materials to the Committee,” the committees continued. “The White House has also not claimed any privilege over these draft speeches, likely because none are enforceable.”
The White House has until February 7 to authorize NARA to release the draft letters. Failure to do so and continued obstruction, which U.S. Archivist Colleen Shogan confirmed to committees was the fault of the White House, will result in “recourse to a mandatory procedure to require the production of speeches by the White House.
Jordan Boyd is an editor at The Federalist and co-producer of The Federalist Radio Hour. His work has also been featured in The Daily Wire, Fox News and RealClearPolitics. Jordan graduated from Baylor University where she majored in political science and journalism. Follow her on Twitter @jordanboydtx.
