Joe Biden's woes just got 5,400 times worse: Nara admits it has emails where POTUS used fake names
WASHINGTON, DC: President Joe Biden's predicaments have been multiplied by a staggering 5,400 as the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) has confirmed the existence of a trove of emails indicating that the president employed various email pseudonyms during his tenure as vice president.
This revelation surfaced in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) petition submitted over a year ago in June 2022 by the Southeastern Legal Foundation (SLF), a nonprofit organization specializing in constitutional law.
Is NARA allowed to release the controversial Joe Biden emails?
NARA's acknowledgment of these communications, tied to aliases like Robin Ware, Robert L Peters, and JRB Ware, signals the former vice president's employment of these alternative identities for electronic correspondence.
These pseudonymous email addresses allowed Biden to exchange government-related emails, adding to the intrigue of his personal communication practices. Many of these emails were discovered on Hunter Biden's notorious laptop. The aliases were employed for both official and familial matters during Biden's vice presidency under Barack Obama from 2009 to 2017.
The SLF, perturbed by NARA's delayed response, has taken legal action to compel the release of these documents. The organization posits that the emails might shed light on instances of President Biden sharing government information and discussing governmental subjects with his son, Hunter, and other individuals.
Kimberly Hermann, SLF's general counsel, emphasized, "All too often, public officials abuse their power by using it for their personal or political benefit. When they do, many seek to hide it. The only way to preserve governmental integrity is for NARA to release Biden's nearly 5,400 emails to SLF and thus the public. The American public deserves to know what is in them."
Additionally, Senators Chuck Grassley and Ron Johnson have been requesting unredacted records from NARA since 2021, citing the Presidential Records Act, which requires the president to provide copies of all communications related to government business to the National Archives.
The SLF has accused NARA of employing delaying strategies ever since the initial Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request was submitted more than 14 months ago. Despite NARA confirming the presence of these emails, no specific emails have been provided.
"We have performed a search of our collection for Vice Presidential records related to your [June 9, 2022] request and have identified approximately 5,138 email messages, 25 electronic files and 200 pages of potentially responsive records that must be processed in order to respond to your request," Stephannie Oriabure, director of NARA's archival operations division, wrote to the SLF in June 2022, the lawsuit revealed.
Kentucky Republican James Comer, Chairman of the House Oversight Committee, recently demanded unredacted records from NARA, which similarly demonstrated President Biden's use of pseudonyms during his vice presidency. This move was aimed at investigating the former vice president's involvement in his son's international business dealings.
Earlier emails released from Hunter's laptop indicated that President Biden had used the email address 'Robert.L.Peters@pci.gov' during his time as vice president. Moreover, a worker in the Office of the Vice President, John Flynn, reportedly sent Biden's daily schedule to his private email address, Robert.L.Peters@pci.gov, while also copying in Hunter.
What do the emails related to Joe Biden's aliases entail?
Between May 18, 2016 and June 15, 2016, a total of 10 emails were forwarded to Hunter. These emails were sent to an email address attributed to Robert Peters, which utilized the domain @pci.gov.
However, this domain was flagged as problematic in the DNS Institute's Domain Name System security report in 2020.
One of the emails from John Flynn to Biden, alias Robert Peters, dated May 2016, also included Hunter. The email mentioned a scheduled preparation at 8:45 am for a 9 am phone call with then Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.
During this period, Hunter was receiving a monthly payment of $83,333 for his involvement with the controversial Ukrainian energy company, Burisma Holdings Ltd. He commenced his role at Burisma in 2014 and left two months after his father's vice presidential term ended.
In December 2015, just a few months prior, Biden had issued a threat to Poroshenko. He warned that he would withhold $1 billion in US aid unless the then Ukrainian top prosecutor, Viktor Shokin, who was investigating Burisma's owner Mykola Zlochevsky, was removed from office. Shokin was accused of corruption and was subsequently removed from his position in March 2016.
Reports suggest that State Department officials attempted to raise concerns directly with Biden about Hunter's involvement with Burisma, but their concerns were dismissed. Another email surfaced in which Biden used an alias email, RobinWare456@gmail.com, to write to Hunter and his brother Beau on March 26, 2012. This forwarded email, originating from Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken, referred to Beau's visit to Kyiv and a discussion on corruption.
The email suggested that Hunter began working for Burisma Holdings in 2014, earning $83,333 monthly until two months after Biden left office. A Ukrainian executive's email hinted that Hunter had access to the "big guy," referencing Biden, raising questions about potential influence. This executive was being investigated by a Ukrainian prosecutor, ousted after Biden leveraged $1 billion in US aid.
President Biden has denied providing access to him or the White House to any of Hunter's business associates. Despite his claims of separation between family business activities and vice presidential duties, evidence suggests otherwise. Representative Comer emphasized this, stating that access for family influence seemed open, and called for the National Archives to release unredacted records to aid in investigating the "Biden family's corruption," as per Daily Mail.
Other emails show that White House staffers sent Biden's schedule, including communication with then-Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, to a secret email address attributed to "Robert L. Peters". Hunter was copied on these emails, raising questions about his involvement with Burisma. This pattern of communication continued, with Biden and Hunter discussing government business via the then vice president's secret email alias.
In another instance from June 2014, Biden and Hunter seemed to use his secret email alias to discuss government matters. Hunter utilized his Rosemont Seneca consultancy email to address his father on June 23, 2014, concerning the employment of then-deputy White House counsel John McGrail.
Hunter's message urged Biden to communicate before filling the position, expressing McGrail's desire to serve in the Treasury. Biden promptly replied using the email robinware456@gmail.com, instructing Hunter to call him right away.
McGrail's career trajectory continued as he was promoted to VP's counsel the following year. He then successfully transitioned to the Treasury, taking up the role of Senior Counsel in January 2017. Presently, he holds the position of Counselor to the Under Secretary for Domestic Finance at the department, according to his LinkedIn profile.