FIRST ON FOX: The White House offers to meet with House Republicans to discuss their assignment for former White House counsel Dana Remus, suggesting her testimony could violate executive branch interests and threaten the special counsel’s ongoing investigation into President Biden’s alleged improper retention of classified documents.
Fox News Digital obtained a letter that the president’s special advisor, Richard Sauber, wrote to House Oversight Committee Chairman James. Arriving and Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan.
President Joe Biden greets as he arrives during an event in the Indian Treaty Room of the White House in Washington, DC, U.S., Monday, November 27, 2023. (Michael Reynolds/EPA/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“We were pleased to read that after several months of no response to my letters, you are now prepared to discuss accommodations to address the substantial institutional interests of the Executive Branch implied by your subpoena of the former White House counsel , Dana Remus,” Sauber wrote in a letter. at Comer and Jordan on Wednesday. “We suggest a meeting with your staff to start this important process.”
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Sauber, recalling previous correspondence with House Republicans, said that “by seeking testimony on matters that are the subject of an ongoing investigation by the special counsel, your efforts give the disturbing impression that Congress seeks to interfere with a Department of Justice investigation.”
“I have also expressed concerns about your attempt to use mandatory procedure in your ‘impeachment investigation,’ because that investigation, and the subpoenas issued pursuant to it, were not duly authorized,” Sauber wrote.
WASHINGTON, DC – JULY 13: White House Counsel Dana Remus (L) and Deputy Chief of Staff Jennifer O’Malley Dillon leave the White House July 13, 2021 in Washington, DC. Remus and Dillion accompany US President Joe Biden on his trip to Philadelphia where he will deliver a speech on protecting voting rights at the National Constitution Center. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
“Nevertheless, we believe it is essential to demonstrate good faith to avoid a constitutional conflict, and we propose a meeting with your staff to initiate this important process,” Sauber said. “Given the compressed time frame created by your nearly three-week wait to respond to my previous letter, we hope that you will lower the return date of your subpoena to allow the accommodation process to continue.”
Speaker James Comer, R-Ky. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
Sauber’s letter followed an unpublished letter that Comer and Jordan sent to Sauber this week in which the committee chairs said they were “willing to work with the White House to address any legitimate institutional interest of the executive branch “.
A spokesperson for the House Oversight Committee told Fox News Digital that the White House has not cooperated with ongoing investigations into the president.
“The White House continues to obstruct Congress’s pursuit of information about President Biden’s mishandling of classified documents and his involvement in his family’s influence peddling schemes. Instead of cooperating with Congress, the White House White House has created a situation room with two dozen staffers to fight our Constitutional surveillance and send sarcastic letters. The American people deserve better from the White House and we will continue to ensure transparency and accountability owed to him,” the spokesperson said.
Comer and Jordan last month subpoenaed former White House counsel Remus for a deposition as part of their investigation into President Biden’s alleged mishandling and improper retention of classified documents.
Comer and Jordan said this week that without a “specific legal basis or privilege that would prohibit him from complying with our subpoenas,” they expect Remus to comply and appear for a deposition.
Last month, the White House requested that the committees “withdraw all subpoenas issued in connection with this investigation into President Biden,” but House Republicans said White House officials “do not have cited no legal reason, much less privilege, that would prevent Ms. Remus from sitting down for testimony before the committees.
Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio. (Caroline Brehman/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
Comer first asked Remus to appear for a transcribed interview before the House Oversight Committee in May. The request came after the panel obtained information that they said “contradicts significant details of statements by the White House’s personal attorney and President Biden regarding the discovery of documents at the Penn Biden Center, including the “location and security of classified documents”.
Comer described Remus as a “central figure in the early stages of coordinating the packing and moving of boxes that were later found to contain classified materials.” Comer, in May, said Remus could be a witness “with potentially unique knowledge” about the case.
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Meanwhile, the subpoena also came after Comer in October demanded answers from special counsel Robert Hur, who is investigating Biden’s alleged improper retention of classified documents, on whether the sensitive elements, classified documents The retained Biden was linked to specific countries involved in his family’s lucrative foreign business dealings.
Comer investigates Biden family foreign trade relations in the House impeachment inquiry, as well as Biden’s alleged mishandling of classified documents.
U.S. Attorney Robert Hur arrives at the U.S. District Court in Baltimore on November 21, 2019. (Associated Press)
Comer also asked Hur for a list of countries named in any documents with classification marks recovered from the Penn Biden Center, Biden’s residence, including the garage, in Wilmington, Delaware or elsewhere; and a list of all persons named in these documents with classification marks; and all documents found with classified marks.
Biden sat down for an interview with Hur in October.
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“As we have said from the beginning, the President and the White House are cooperating with this investigation and, as appropriate, we have provided relevant updates publicly, being as transparent as possible, consistent with the protection and “preserving the integrity of the investigation,” White House investigations spokesman Ian Sams said after the president’s meeting with the special counsel.
Hur’s investigation comes after a batch of documents from President Biden’s time as vice president, including a “small number of documents with classified markings,” were discovered at the Penn Biden Center by the personal lawyers of the president on November 2, 2022.
Additional classified documents were discovered at President Biden’s Wilmington home in January. After this discovery, Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Hur as special counsel to investigate the matter.
