National Archives dismissed claims of mishandled Obama-Biden documents weeks before first batch was found

The National Archives dismissed reports about mishandled documents from the Obama-Biden administration as “false and misleading” just weeks before the first batch of classified documents were uncovered at the Penn Biden Center last fall.

The National Archives responded to questions about the documents on October 11, less than a month before classified documents would be found at the Biden think tank in Washington. It argued that all documents from Obama administration had been “securely moved” to locations that met “strict archival and security standards.”

“Reports that indicate or imply that those Presidential records were in the possession of the former Presidents or their representatives, after they left office, or that the records were housed in substandard conditions, are false and misleading,” the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) wrote.

NARA did not respond to a request for comment on whether President Biden’s garage in Wilmington, Delaware met its “strict archival and security standards.”

NO VISITOR LOGS EXIST FOR BIDEN’S WILMINGTON HOME, SITE OF CLASSFIED DOC DISCOVERY, WH COUNSEL’S OFFICE SAYS

General view of the gate to the access road leading to the home of President Joe Biden in Wilmington, DE on Thursday, January 12. 2023. 
(Dario Alequin for Fox News Digital)

President Joe Biden responds to questions from reporters after lawyers for Biden found more classified documents at his home in Wilmington, Delaware on Saturday, Jan. 14.
(AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)

The October 11 statement came barely three weeks before Biden’s attorneys “unexpectedly discovered” documents with classified markings at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement, located in Washington, D.C.

PRESIDENT BIDEN IGNORES QUESTION ON WHY CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS WERE FOUND AT HIS THINK TANK

White House lawyers would later find additional documents stashed inside the garage of Biden’s home in Wilmington. The White House says it has handed over all the documents in question and is cooperating fully with the DOJ’s investigation.

Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed a special counsel to investigate the matter last week, tapping former U.S. Attorney Robert Hur.

U.S. Attorney Robert Hur arrives at U.S. District Court in Baltimore on Nov. 21, 2019. Attorney General Merrick Garland on Jan. 12, 2023, appointed Hur as a special counsel to investigate the presence of documents with classified markings found at President Joe Biden’s home in Wilmington, Del., and at an office in Washington. (AP Photo/Steve Ruark, File)
(Associated Press)

Republicans on Capitol Hill demanded visitor logs from Biden’s Wilmington home following the revelations this weekend. The White House Counsel’s Office has claimed no such records exist, however.

“Like every President in decades of modern history, his personal residence is personal,” the White House Counsel’s Office told Fox News Digital on Monday. “But upon taking office, President Biden restored the norm and tradition of keeping White House visitors logs, including publishing them regularly, after the previous administration ended them.”

DON LEMON, CHUCK SCHUMER CLASH OVER BIDEN CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS STORY: ‘FOR GOD’S SAKE’

The U.S. Secret Service also said that while detail is assigned to the home, they do not record visitors.

“We don’t independently maintain our own visitor logs because it’s a private residence,” USSS spokesman Anthony Guglielmi told reporters.

General view of the gate to the access road leading to the home of President Joe Biden in Wilmington, DE on Thursday, January 12. 2023. 
(Dario Alequin for Fox News Digital)

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer said he will “continue to press” for information about the documents despite the lack of a visitor log, however.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

“President Biden promised to have the most transparent administration in history, but he refuses to be transparent when it matters most,” Comer told Fox News Digital. “The White House, National Archives, and the Justice Department withheld information from Congress and the American people about classified records found in unsecure locations from Joe Biden’s time as vice president. The American people deserve transparency, not secrecy.”