WASHINGTON – On Friday, U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), ranking member of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, and U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), ranking member of the Committee on the Budget, sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Christopher Wray, and Special Counsel Robert Hur regarding an apparent “significant factual omission” in the Special Counsel’s report on President Biden’s handling of classified records. 

In March 2023, the senators revealed that the Department of Justice (DOJ) tasked the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) to retrieve nine boxes of Biden records from the Boston office of Patrick Moore, one of Biden’s personal counsels. NARA told the senators that it did move the boxes to its facility in Boston on November 9, 2022.  It remains unclear whether any of the records in those boxes contained classified information.

The senators wrote, “[o]ddly, Special Counsel Hur’s report did not mention NARA’s retrieval of the nine boxes from Mr. Moore’s office. This apparent omission is significant given that, according to NARA, the Department of Justice requested that NARA recover the boxes. In fact, in March 2023, NARA informed our offices that ‘while NARA has not yet reviewed the contents of the nine boxes, the FBI has.’” 

The senators noted that if the FBI did review the contents of the boxes, it is unclear what was found, if it included any classified information, and “whether the FBI informed Special Counsel Hur’s office of its findings.” 

The senators added, “it is unclear if Special Counsel Hur had any awareness of or reviewed the information contained in these nine boxes. It would be extremely troubling if Special Counsel Hur failed to investigate the contents of these nine boxes particularly given that we first publicly revealed the existence of these specific boxes on March 27, 2023 — nearly one year ago.”

The senators gave DOJ, FBI, and Special Counsel Hur’s office until February 23, 2024 to explain whether the Special Counsel’s office reviewed the nine boxes of Biden records and whether those boxes contained classified material.

Read about the senators’ February 9, 2024 letter to AG Garland, FBI Director Wray, and Special Counsel Hur in The Federalist.

Full text of the letter can be found here.

Background: 

Since July 2021, Sens. Johnson and Grassley have been conducting oversight into Joe Biden’s apparent use of pseudonyms and personal email addresses for official government business and his compliance with federal record-keeping standards including the handling of classified documents. The senators’ previous oversight letters on this issue and the responses received to date are below:

July 30, 2021 letter to White House Counsel Dana Remus

June 28, 2022 letter to White House Special Counsel Richard Sauber

January 11, 2023 letter to White House Special Counsel Richard Sauber

January 23, 2023 letter to Acting Archivist Debra Steidel Wall, NARA

·         February 2, 2023 response from NARA

January 23, 2023 letter to Director Kimberly Cheatle, Secret Service

·         February 10, 2023 response from Secret Service

February 24, 2023 letter to Acting Archivist Debra Steidel Wall, NARA

·         March 7, 2023 response from NARA

March 27, 2023 letter to Acting Archivist Debra Steidel Wall, NARA

·         April 13, 2023 response from NARA

August 29, 2023 letter to Archivist Colleen Shogan, NARA

·         September 12, 2023 response from NARA

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