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The National Archives has uncovered a considerable volume of emails associated with an alias frequently utilized by Joe Biden, igniting a controversy that could overshadow the infamous email crisis associated with former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
This revelation comes from a status report put forward in a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the National Archives and Records Administration by the Southeastern Legal Foundation, a nonprofit law firm advocating for public interest.
The lawsuit was initiated for probing these emails after it emerged Joe Biden had employed three alias email accounts during his tenure as Vice President under President Barack Obama.
The status report was lodged in a federal court in Atlanta by Just the News, offering the first insight into the magnitude of potential government activities Biden might have engaged in using false identities and personal email accounts.
This could be considered a breach of federal transparency regulations. The report states, ‘NARA has concluded the search for documents that could be relevant and is in the process of analyzing these records to release the sections that are not exempt, on a month-to-month basis.’
Given the extensiveness of the FOIA request from the plaintiffs, which covers all emails in three different accounts over a span of eight years, it is inevitable that the collection of potentially relevant records is substantial.
As per the claims in the filing, ‘The National Archives have identified approximatedly 82,000 pages of documents that could possibly be sensitive, and is currently organizing these documents, readying any non-exempt responsive documents for production on an ongoing basis.’
The law advises against the usage of personal email accounts by government officials. Along the same line, federal officials like Biden have a statutory obligation under the Federal Records Act to store all their government-related correspondences, including emails from private accounts.
Considering the enormous amount of Biden’s emails within the National Archive’s custody, it’s likely that Biden himself surrendered those correspondences.
Just the News reported, ‘The total volume disclosed by the Archives is startling, it even surpasses the volume from the most notorious private email saga in American history linked to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, which also pertained to government affairs under Obama’s administration.’
In the lead-up to Clinton’s defeat to Donald Trump in the 2016 summer, the State Department’s inspector general reported that Clinton had inappropriately used a private email server located in her Chappaqua, N.Y., home for regular government business activities.
The inspector general discovered that she had erased thousands of emails transmitted through the server, many of which were under congressional subpoena during that time.
The final report mentioned that ‘Secretary Clinton submitted approximately 55,000 printed pages from her email account to the Department, representing around 30,000 emails that she thought were related to official work,’ a figure that is significantly lesser than the number of private emails from Biden discovered so far.
Adding to the report, Just the News stated, ‘Following internal investigations, it was concluded that around 100 emails that moved through Clinton’s private server contained information that should have been classified at the point of transmission, inclusive of 65 emails at the ‘Secret’ level and 22 at ‘Top Secret’ security clearance.’
At this juncture, there appears to be no evidence hinting at the presence of classified information within the pseudonymous emails sent by Biden, as per reports from Just the News. However, Biden is currently subject to an investigation led by special counsel Robert Hur for the alleged mishandling of classified documents during his time both as a senator and a vice president.
These documents were reportedly found at his residence and an office he used in Washington, D.C.
The detailed extent of how Biden utilized his pseudonymous email accounts for government operations and the content of these archived emails remains unclear at this point. The law firm’s FOIA request and subsequent lawsuit against the National Archives seeks to shed light on these issues.
With around 82,000 pages of potentially responsive records identified, the monthly processing and production of these documents will likely be a time-consuming procedure.
The weight of this unfolding scandal could potentially outmatch the controversy involving Hillary Clinton’s private email server hoarded within her home, which she allegedly used for regular governmental operations.
Both the vast numbers involved and the possible violation of federal transparency regulations make the situation potentially far more serious.
It’s also worth noting the comparison made by several sources between Biden’s situation and Clinton’s infamous email predicament, particularly in terms of scale. Clinton’s self-reported 30,000 work-related emails pale in comparison to the ”stunning in size” 82,000 pages worth of potentially responsive documents related to Biden’s case.
Despite the current lack of evidence suggesting classified information within Biden’s pseudonymous email communications, his status remains under scrutiny. The special counsel’s ongoing investigation into Biden’s previous conduct adds another facet to this developing scandal. Only time will reveal the full implications of these findings.