After being sued by America First Legal (AFL), the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) has identified more than 1,000 emails exchanged between business entities tied to Hunter Biden and his father, President Joe Biden, while the elder Biden was serving as vice president of the United States.
On Wednesday, AFL announced it had received seven tranches of documents pertaining to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request it had submitted last year, seeking records of communications between Biden family businesses and President Biden from his time as vice president. With the latest tranche of documents, America First Legal announced that NARA had, at least partially, turned over 861 email communications transmitted between January 2011 and December 2013 involving the then-vice president and Rosemont Seneca, a business entity Hunter Biden co-founded.
“The vast majority of these emails consisted of direct communications between Rosemont Seneca employees, including Hunter Biden, and the Office of the Vice President,” AFL said Wednesday.
The communication records come as Republicans and conservatives have been investigating allegations that various Biden family businesses engaged in influence peddling, suggesting they may have been offering to provide favorable access to Joe Biden as then-vice president. President Biden has repeatedly denied having involvement in his son’s business dealings.
AFL is a conservative organization and is comprised of former senior members of President Donald Trump’s administration, including former senior policy advisor Stephen Miller.
While NARA has identified hundreds of documents to be turned over, many of those documents contain redactions. Around 200 of the documents have been blocked from release in their entirety.
“Contrary to Joe Biden’s claim that there is an ‘absolute wall between the personal and private, and the government,’ the White House asserted executive privilege to withhold 200 emails in their entirety because ‘Release would disclose confidential advice between the President and his advisors, or between such advisors,'” AFL wrote, referencing one of the Presidential Records Act exemptions specifically cited by NARA in three different document production letters (PDFs 1, 2, and 3).
NTD News reached out to the White House for comment but did not receive a response by the time this article was published.
Hunter Biden’s White House Access
The communications NARA has released in response to the AFL document request are available for download from the NARA website.
AFL has identified records indicating Hunter Biden and his Rosemont Seneca business partners helped their business contacts get access to the White House.
In a series of emails in June of 2013, Hunter Biden was cc’d on a Rosemont Seneca communication to the Office of the Vice President, asking for a White House tour for a business associate with the venture capital firm Third Point. A Rosemont Seneca staff member described this Third Point business associate as “a client of ours.”
In another back and forth in December of 2013, lobbyist Doug Davenport reached out to Rosemont Seneca member Eric Schwerin, asking about getting last-minute tickets for a White House tour for a “guy from Apple.” Rosemont Seneca then contacted a staffer for the Office of the Vice President, requesting access to a White House tour and stating it would be a “Big favor for Hunter.”
Republicans Probing VP Biden Alias Communications
Earlier this month, the House Oversight Committee requested unredacted copies of emails President Biden may have sent to his son under several different aliases while he was serving as vice president.
Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) raised allegations that President Biden had used aliases after NARA identified the name “Robert L. Peters” as part of a separate FOIA response (case number: 2023-0022-F). The particular FOIA request sought communications “To and/or From Vice President Biden and Hunter Biden” related to Ukraine and Burisma, a Ukrainian gas company that Hunter Biden worked with while his father served as vice president. One of the documents NARA returned had been sent to this “Robert L. Peters” name.
Mr. Comer concluded the “Robert L. Peters” name was likely a pseudonym, and requested any communications NARA has that correspond with that name—as well as with the names “Robin Ware” and “JRB Ware.” After Mr. Comer submitted that request, the Southeastern Legal Foundation filed its own FOIA lawsuit for the records, and claimed NARA has identified around 5,400 responsive records—but is refusing to turn over the communications.