WASHINGTON, DC - A significant revelation has emerged from a newly-released trove of previously redacted documents in the "Mar-a-Lago ‘classified' documents" case. This revelation, while not entirely unexpected, underscores what appears to be a direct connection between the Biden White House and the National Archives and Record Administration (NARA) to trap President Trump.
The version released Monday by Judge Aileen Cannon shows information originally redacted by special counsel Jack Smith being unredacted, according to The Post Millennial.
For example, in a section titled “Early Indications of NARA Bias,” heavily redacted in Smith’s original version, states NARA General Counsel Gary Stern sent an internal email attaching a draft letter to President Trump’s [Presidential Records Act] representatives.
Stern noted that he ‘had several conversations’ with [White House Office of Records Management]’s [redacted] and that [redacted] had ‘raised some of these concerns directly with David [Ferriero, NARA’s Archivist].”
“Stern’s draft concluded that ‘things were very chaotic, as they always are in the course of a one-term transition,’ and he acknowledged that ‘the transfer of the Trump electronic records is still ongoing and won’t be complete for several more months.” Most of that was redacted in Smith’s original release.
As investigative reporter Julie Kelly noted in a post on X, the release of the unredacted information appears to be evidence of “outrageous lies by Joe Biden, Attorney General Merrick Garland, and DOJ/Jack Smith about ‘independence’ from investigations into Trump."
“The Biden White House and DOJ wew [sic] intimately involved in developing a criminal case against Trump for records mismanagement–it appears the first go-around related to alleged ‘destruction’ of government papers," she said.
“Contrary to public and legal assertions, NARA was working with DOJ/White House to craft a criminal referral by Sept. 2021–FIVE MONTHS before the ‘official’ referral by NARA to DOJ in Feb 2022.”
In another area that Smith redacted in the original version, this section includes an exhibit note that says a “NARA employee explained to the FBI that ‘it is not uncommon that PRA [Presidential Records Act] material collection extends past the close of any presidential administration, sometimes well after the close of any given presidential administration.”
That was unredacted in the version released by Judge Cannon this week.
Another newly unredacted section, titled “The Biden Administration Weaponizes the PRA” states “in late-September 2021, without disclosing that NARA had already drafted a referral letter and contacted DOJ, Deputy White House Counsel Jonathan Su asked one of President Trump’s PRA representatives to permit [redacted] to access notes from the Trump Administration related to records handling. Su then intervened when Stern offered to provide a copy of the notes to Trump’s PRA representative: ‘Could we discuss the process before anything is provided to him?’”
The section after the name Jonathan Su was redacted in the original.
“Stern agreed to coordinate on this issue with the Biden Administration but informed Su that the request was atypical: ‘Normally, we would have to provide the records to him per the notification/review process before we could provide anything to you.’ Two days later, Stern told SU that the PRA representative (Trump’s) ‘had not asked to see these records.’” That section was completely redacted.
The section continues, “On October 5, 2021, Stern sent an internal email describing a strategy to ‘time’ NARA’s public communications with Congress in order to prejudice President Trump. Stern’s email attached a ‘draft letter to the Hill re social media records,’ which he proposed to ‘run…past WH Counsel’ before notifying President Trump.
“Three days later, the Biden Administration instructed NARA to reject President Trump’s assertion of executive privilege and disclose records to the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol (the ‘J6 Committee’).”
In another section titled “The White House Instructs NARA to Contact Prosecutors,” it featured a heavily redacted second portion of the segment and began by stating that the special counsel’s office “falsely claimed that NARA independently referred this matter to DOJ on February 9, 2022.”
The newly unredacted portion shows the section added, “However, the evidence demonstrates that Su–on behalf of the Biden Administration–referred NARA to DOJ on January 21, 2022.”
“According to an FBI report, Stern and [redacted], also of NARA, ‘consulted’ with Su in late-January 2021. During the consult, Su ‘referred Stern and [redacted] to Department of Justice Associate Deputy Attorney General Emily Loeb and Associate Deputy Attorney General David Newman,” the newly-released unredacted version states.
Post Millennial further reports that “on Jan. 22, 2022, Loeb and Newman instructed [redacted] and Stern ‘to refer the matter to their Office of the Inspector General (‘NARA-OIG’) and ‘the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) IG.’
“‘Newman also provided DOJ contacts Jay Bratt, Chief of the National Security Division, and Corey Amundson, Chief of the Public Integrity Section.’ [Redacted] and Stern ‘had additional conversations with Bratt and Amundson regarding next steps.’”
In early April, Judge Cannon ordered Smith to file an index identifying potential government witnesses identified in the materials included in the motion to compel, and the parties in the case were instructed to work together regarding possible redaction of materials that could identify a potential witness.
In addition, the new information also shows the Department of Energy, under the feckless Jennifer Granholm, retroactively amended Trump’s security clearance “based on ‘[i]nformation provided by the Office of the Environment, Health, Safety and Security (EHSS) and documents reviewed by the Office of the General Counsel…’ The Energy Department concluded that these steps were appropriate ‘as a matter of law’ based on the retroactive interpretation of the terms of President Trump’s clearance.”
Comments