By Zachary Stieber
A top Republican is demanding records from the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration after learning President Joe Biden used a pseudonym in some communications while he was vice president.
Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) asked U.S. archivist Colleen Shogan for all communications in which President Biden used a pseudonym and for all emails that have copied the president’s son and two of his longtime business associates.
President Biden used at least one pseudonym, Robert L. Peters, on official emails, according to messages released in response to Freedom of Information Act requests.
That included receiving his daily schedule in an inbox with an address that used the pseudonym, the messages show. In another message, a White House staff member discusses an upcoming call with Petro Poroshenko, Ukraine’s vice president at the time.
President Biden also used other pseudonyms, such as Robin Ware and JRB Ware, according to emails on Hunter Biden’s laptop computer.
Mr. Comer, chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives Oversight Committee, is seeking unrestricted access to the emails published by the Archives, with redactions that were applied to the messages removed.
He also wants all documents and communications in which President Biden, under a pseudonym, was included.
Mr. Comer also demanded all records in which Mr. Biden or at least one of two of his associates, Eric Schwerin and Devon Archer, were included.
The documents will help the committee craft legislation to close ethics loopholes that the Biden family took advantage of, Mr. Comer told Ms. Shogan, who was appointed by President Biden.
“Joe Biden has stated there was ‘an absolute wall’ between his family’s foreign business schemes and his duties as vice president, but evidence reveals that access was wide open for his family’s influence peddling,” Mr. Comer said in a statement.
“We already have evidence of then-Vice President Biden speaking, dining, and having coffee with his son’s foreign business associates. We also know that Hunter Biden and his associates were informed of then-Vice President Biden’s official government duties in countries where they had a financial interest. The National Archives must provide these unredacted records to further our investigation into the Biden family’s corruption.”
A spokesperson for the Archives (NARA) told The Epoch Times in an email, “NARA has received the request from Chairman Comer, and will respond in accordance with the requirements of the Presidential Records Act.”
The White House didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Archer’s Testimony
Mr. Biden conducted a number of business deals between 2009 and 2017, while his father was vice president, including deals with nationals of China, Russia, and Ukraine, documents and testimony show.
President Biden has said he never discussed business with his son. The White House has said recently that the president was “never in business” with Mr. Biden. President Biden has also said his public pressure on Ukraine to fire its top prosecutor at the time was due to the prosecutor’s alleged corruption and not related to how the prosecutor was probing a company that employed his son.
Mr. Archer recently testified to the House Oversight Committee. He recounted that President Biden spoke to associates of Mr. Biden’s on approximately 20 occasions, with Mr. Biden putting his father on speakerphone. The discussions didn’t include business, Mr. Archer said.
He also said that both President Biden and Mr. Biden attended dinners in Washington in 2014 and 2015 that included people who paid Mr. Biden, including a Russian national who paid him $3.5 million.
Foreigners paid Mr. Biden, other relatives of President Biden, and their associates more than $20 million while President Biden was vice president, according to bank records and other documents, including millions from Chinese firms and nationals.
The phone calls helped Mr. Biden conduct business, Mr. Archer told members of Congress.
“It certainly was powerful, though, because if you’re sitting with a foreign business person and you hear the vice president’s voice, that’s prize enough,” Mr. Archer said.
Mr. Archer also said that Mr. Biden’s primary value to Burisma, the Ukrainian energy firm that appointed Mr. Biden to its board, was the Biden brand.
“My only thought is that I think Burisma would have gone out of business if it didn’t have the brand attached to it,” Mr. Archer said. He said the brand meant that people were too intimidated to mess with the company.
Mr. Archer later said that President Biden’s claim of having no involvement in his son’s business dealings was false.
“He was aware of Hunter’s business. He met with Hunter’s business partners,” Mr. Archer said. “In the same breath, there’s no … I don’t think Joe Biden has looked at a balance sheet or a cap table or what have you or any financial document probably ever.”
