Comer demands White House answer concerns it silenced National Archives amid investigations

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., on Tuesday excoriated the Biden administration for its lack of transparency in the face of information requests related to President Joe Biden's handling of classified materials. 

Comer demanded that White House chief of staff Jeff Zients account for concerns the White House may have barred the National Archives from commenting on the matter.

"[T]he White House has produced no documents and neglected to provide a substantive response to the Committee's requests," Comer wrote to Zients. "The Committee is concerned about President Biden's lack of transparency given the serious national security implications of his conduct."

Comer then recalled an interview with National Archives and Records Administration's (NARA) general counsel, Gary Stern, that occurred in late January following reports of the discovery of classified materials at the Penn Biden Center in Washington, D.C. He noted that Stern indicated NARA had drafted a public response but that someone outside of the agency had stopped its release.

The Kentucky Republican contrasted that situation with NARA's release of a public statement almost immediately following reports that the FBI had discovered classified materials at former President Donald Trump's home nearly a year prior.

He then repeated his demands for materials related to the matter, along with asking several questions of Zients.

"Did any White House staff member or representative of President Biden inform any employee of NARA to withhold any public statements regarding President Biden's mishandling of classified documents? If so, who?" he asked.

Ben Whedon is an editor and reporter for Just the News. Follow him on Twitter.