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House GOP probes whether White House suppressed public statement on Biden's classified docs mishandling

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House Republicans on Tuesday called on the White House to answer whether it suppressed a statement from the National Archives issued in response to President Biden’s mishandling of classified documents.

The alleged suppression was revealed during a Jan. 31 interview of National Archives general counsel Gary Stern by the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability interview.

FILE: House Oversight and Accountability Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., pauses for questions in the House Rules Committee as he advances a GOP effort to disapprove of action by the District of Columbia Council on a local voting rights act and a criminal code revision, at the Capitol in Washington, Feb. 6, 2023. AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite

© AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite FILE: House Oversight and Accountability Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., pauses for questions in the House Rules Committee as he advances a GOP effort to disapprove of action by the District of Columbia Council on a local voting rights act and a criminal code revision, at the Capitol in Washington, Feb. 6, 2023. AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite

Stern told the Committee that NARA drafted a statement on Jan. 9 in response to the news of President Biden’s mishandling of classified documents, but someone outside NARA withheld its release from the public.

House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., said Stern confirmed with the Committee that Biden can publicly release his communications between his attorneys and NARA but has failed to do so.

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"Indeed, the Committee learned that President Biden is ‘free to release’ all of his representatives’ communications and can be completely transparent with the American people, if he chooses," Comer wrote in a Tuesday letter to White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients.

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"The Committee’s transcribed interview with NARA General Counsel Gary Stern raises more questions regarding the Biden Administration’s involvement in suppressing information related to President Biden’s mishandling of classified document."

President Biden delivers remarks during a meeting with Democratic congressional leaders in the Roosevelt Room of the White House on Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2023. Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Post via Getty Images

© Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Post via Getty Images President Biden delivers remarks during a meeting with Democratic congressional leaders in the Roosevelt Room of the White House on Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2023. Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Post via Getty Images

Comer said the Committee has on several occasions – Jan. 10, 13, and 15 – requested documents from the White House regarding the president’s mishandling of classified materials. The Chairman reiterated those requests in his letter to Zients.

Comer also requested that the White House release Biden’s personal attorney’s communication with NARA, setting a deadline of March 21.

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Since the November discovery, Biden's attorneys have uncovered other documents and so has the FBI, which searched his Wilmington and Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, homes as well as the Penn Biden Center, the think tank affiliated with the University of Pennsylvania. Biden has turned over records voluntarily and agreed to the searches.

Discovery of the classified documents touched off a special counsel probe by the Justice Department.

President Biden listens to a question during a news conference in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Jan. 19, 2022. AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File

After the news first surfaced about Biden documents, former Vice President Mike Pence said he also had found classified information at his home, and the FBI discovered an additional document with classified markings after he allowed them to search his home in Indiana. Archives officials have asked administrations going back to the Reagan presidency to comb through their records to make sure there are no more classified records or other items that should belong with the Archives.

The issue took on greater significance since former President Trump insistently retained classified material at his Florida estate, prompting the unprecedented FBI seizure of thousands of pages of records last year.

Fox News Digital has reached out to the White House and NARA for comment.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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