Senate Republicans to press National Archives for Ukraine documents after Obama executive privilege deadline passes
A top Senate Republican said the deadline for the National Archives to release information related to his committee’s investigation into a Ukrainian gas company that once employed Hunter Biden has expired.
Back in November, Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Ron Johnson sent a letter to the National Archives demanding documents pertaining to Obama-era White House meetings that National Security Council staff had with Ukrainian officials and former Democratic National Committee consultant Alexandra Chalupa.
Johnson’s panel has yet to receive these documents from the National Archives. The Wisconsin Republican told the Washington Examiner in January, “We've got a request into the National Archives. They've assembled, I think, more than a thousand pages, they're telling us.” The senator added that the release of the documents from the National Archives depended on whether President Barack Obama’s counsel would allow such a release of information to Johnson’s committee or make a claim of executive privilege.
Johnson told the Washington Examiner on Tuesday that deadline has passed.
"We're working on a letter right now between my staff and Sen. [Chuck] Grassley's staff. There are rules in terms of timing, and we made the request,” Johnson said, adding,“but there's a certain time period that President Obama would have to claim executive privilege, specifically with the National Archives, that they have to let us know what those privilege claims are. That time has already expired. So, we should be getting this production now."
A National Archives representative did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The November letter to the National Archives was co-signed by Grassley, the chairman of the Finance Committee.
“According to Andrii Telizhenko, a political officer in the Ukraine Embassy in Washington, D.C. who participated in a January 2016 meeting, ‘U.S. officials volunteered … that they had an interest in reviving a closed investigation into payments to U.S. figures from Ukraine’s Russia-backed Party of Regions,’ which refers to the investigation that involved Paul Manafort," the letter said.
Johnson and Grassley noted in their letter that, in the same meeting, Telizhenko "recalled DOJ officials asking investigators from Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) if they could help locate new evidence about the Party of Regions’ payments and its dealings with Americans."
Additionally, their letter described U.S. officials who reportedly discussed investigations into Burisma Holdings, the Ukrainian gas company that hired then-Vice President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, to serve as a board member.
“According to Telizhenko, ‘U.S. officials told the Ukrainians they would prefer that Kiev drop the Burisma probe and allow the FBI to take it over,’” both senators wrote.
Democrats on the Homeland Security Committee have disagreed with their Republican colleagues over advancing the Burisma investigation. Ranking member Gary Peters sent letters to Johnson in the past few months expressing concern that the committee should instead focus on potential presidential election interference by the Russians.
Johnson’s committee, the chairman confirmed, is expected to vote on Wednesday on a witness subpoena to call forth Telizhenko to testify.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/senate-republicans-to-press-national-archives-for-ukraine-documents-after-obama-executive-privilege-deadline-passes