House Republicans on Friday demanded access to classified documents found in President Joe Biden's home amid the Oversight panel's probe of the Biden family.
In a social media post by the GOP-majority House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, chaired by Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., the panel demanded the Department of Justice Department provide Congress with access "to Joe Biden's stashed classified documents to determine if they were used to help the Bidens' influence peddling schemes."
The move follows Comer's request that "Special Counsel Robert Hur provide our committee with information about whether President Biden retained classified materials related to specific countries involving his family's foreign business schemes that brought in millions for the Biden family," the panel wrote — and that the DOJ "refused to provide this information under the guise of 'an ongoing investigation.'"
The committee said that since the probe is now over "and the Special Counsel's report reveals Joe Biden kept classified materials related to Ukraine and China, two countries where the Bidens made millions," the DOJ "must provide Congress with unfettered access to these documents."
Hur released his report to the public on Thursday, but didn't recommend criminal charges against Biden for mishandling and retaining classified documents — and stated he wouldn't bring charges against Biden even if he were not in the Oval Office.
The records included classified documents about military and foreign policy in Afghanistan and other countries, among other records related to national security and foreign policy, which Hur said implicated "sensitive intelligence sources and methods."
They also included documents related to Ukraine and China.
Hunter Biden joined the board of Ukrainian natural gas firm Burisma Holdings in June 2014 and also had joint business ventures with Chinese energy firms.
According to the full special counsel report, a "VP Personal" file folder contained a telephone call sheet from Dec. 12, 2015, talking points for a call with Ukrainian Prime Minister Yatsenyuk, and a handwritten note attached addressed to Biden's executive assistant that states: "Get copy of this conversation from Sit Rm for my Records please." The note is signed "Joe." That document was marked as "Secret."
Attached to that document was another, dated Dec. 11, 2015. The report describes that document as "a transcript documenting the substance of a Dec. 11, 2015 call between Mr. Biden and Ukrainian Prime Minister Yatsenyuk." The document is marked "CONFIDENTIAL" and "EYES ONLY DO NOT COPY."
Biden gave a speech on Dec. 9, 2015 in which he discussed corruption in Ukraine.
"And it's not enough to set up a new anti-corruption bureau and establish a special prosecutor fighting corruption," Biden said in the speech. "The Office of the General Prosecutor desperately needs reform."
At the time, Burisma Holdings was under investigation by Ukrainian prosecutor Viktor Shokin. Several months later, in March 2016, Biden successfully pressured Ukraine to remove Shokin. At the time Shokin was investigating Burisma Holdings, and Hunter Biden had a highly lucrative role on the board.
Biden, at the time, threatened to withhold $1 billion of critical U.S. aid if Shokin was not fired.