After secret documents were discovered in the possession of former Vice Pres. Mike Pence and President Biden, the National Archives asked that the past six administration’s presidents and vice presidents review their personal records for sensitive information.
Former Presidents George Bush, Barack Obama, and Bill Clinton, as well as former Vice Presidents Al Gore, Dick Cheney, and Dan Quayle, have all requested that their personal records be searched.
Individuals dating back to Ronald Reagan’s administration are covered under the appropriate Presidential Records Act. Ronald Reagan and George H. Walker Bush have both died since.
“The need to comply with the PRA doesn’t diminish after the conclusion of an administration,” the Archives wrote to previous presidents’ and vice presidents’ representatives. “While most of the attention in these instances has centered on secret information,” the letter added, “the PRA mandates that all Presidential records of all Administrations from Reagan on must be submitted to NARA, regardless of classification level.”
“As a result, we request that you conduct an evaluation of any materials that are being held outside of the NARA that are related to the Administration for which you have served as a designated representative under the Presidential Records Act, to assess whether bodies of documents previously thought to be personal in nature may inadvertently contain Vice Presidential or Presidential records that are subject to the PRA, whether unclassified or classified,” the letter stated.
Representatives for the four surviving past presidents told CNN that when they left office, they turned over all pertinent records to the Archives. CNN stated that former Vice Presidents Gore, Cheney, and Quayle have turned over all secret materials.
Kamala Harris has been unusually silent on President Joe Biden’s secret document crisis, leading some Republicans to suspect she is trying to push Biden out of the way for a run at the White House.
The White House didn’t reply to a request for comment on why Kamala Harris has been mum on the subject, and the vice president didn’t reply when asked about her opinion on the president’s secret papers problem.
Despite pledges of transparency after the controversy was disclosed to the press, at least three established media sites have reported that the Justice Department and the White House collaborated to keep the crisis hidden from the American public.
Author: Scott Dowdy
