The disclosure of documents from Joe Biden’s tenure as vice president, which include communications with his son, Hunter, and brother, James, about their business activities, has been postponed until after the presidential election in 2024.
The conservative group America First Legal, which aims to “[fight] back against lawless executive actions and the Radical Left,” has been attempting to access records from Biden’s time as vice president through a Freedom of Information Act request for several years. The Department of Justice informed them on Wednesday that these documents would not be made available until November 6, 2024, the day following the election.
It was disclosed that legal representatives for Biden and former President Barack Obama requested an extension under the Presidential Records Act. This request will postpone the National Archives and Records Administration’s (NARA) release of documents related to Hunter Biden’s overseas business transactions.
“NARA has arbitrarily deferred to former President Obama and current President Biden’s requests to delay disclosure of likely embarrassing records until after the election that shows then-Vice President Biden’s communications with Rosemont Seneca and financial disclosures that may reveal profits from Burisma through Rosemont!” stated Dan Epstein, AFL’s vice president, in a public statement.
America First Legal initiated efforts to obtain these records in August 2022 and proceeded to file a lawsuit in September of the same year when NARA did not fulfill the FOIA request. According to AFL, the documents they have acquired so far indicate that Biden utilized a personal email for official government tasks during his vice presidency, his son Hunter held a role that likely required him to register as a foreign agent, and the Biden family leveraged their influence for personal gain.
AFL has indicated that more documents are yet to be released. These unreleased documents purportedly include “email messages with James Biden …, Lion Hall …, and [Hunter’s firm] Rosemont Seneca,” concerning “photographs from a White House visit of Vice President Biden with James Biden [and] preparation of Vice President and Biden’s final tax forms and financial disclosures for the year 2015,” as mentioned in the notification shared by AFL.
AFL has pointed out that the legal teams for Biden and Obama have the option to request a 30-day extension to further review the records to claim “a claim of constitutionally based privilege against disclosure.” However, AFL contends that since the documents have been in their possession since June, ample time has been provided for review, suggesting that the postponement is politically motivated.