Every administration since Reagan mishandled classified records, officials testify to House committee https://ift.tt/6SqgBAh
FIRST ON FOX: Every administration since President Reagan has mishandled classified materials, officials from the National Archives and Records Administration testified to the House Intelligence Committee last month.
The committee voted Wednesday to release an unclassified transcript, first obtained by Fox News Digital, of testimony from NARA officials after they appeared before the panel for a transcribed interview in April.
The committee is investigating former President Trump, President Biden and former Vice President Mike Pence for their alleged mishandling of classified records.
According to the transcript, NARA’s Chief Operating Officer William Bosanko, who has served at the archives for more than 30 years, testified to the committee that "from Reagan forward we have found classified information in unclassified boxes."
Bosanko said that under the Presidential Records Act, a president has "great and wide discretion with respect to how to apply the PRA in their administration."
Specifically referring to former President Trump, Bosanko said NARA was "not aware of missing classified information" when it was reviewing Trump’s presidential records, but instead, "were aware of missing records."
He said NARA’s initial outreach to the Trump team came after officials noticed that they were missing "high-visible items" from the Trump administration.
Bosanko testified that those items included "the letter that President Obama had left for President Trump" and "the correspondence with the leader of North Korea."
"There was a whole list of items that we were telling them, the administration, hey, that we don’t have this. It must exist somewhere," Bosanko explained.
Bosanko said Trump officials then notified NARA "pretty quickly that they found the letters," and informed the archives that, in the course of looking, they had "identified other materials and then they arranged to ship those materials."
Bosanko said NARA officials received those materials and "didn’t notice other things were missing," but realized they had "recovered a great deal of materials we should have received under the Presidential Records Act, and then also the classified national security information that was commingled with what we received."
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Biden and Pence’s retention of classified records were "self-identified," Bosanko said, while admitting that "anybody’s ability to know that something has gone missing or astray is very limited."
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Turner told Fox News Digital Wednesday that testimony from NARA officials "makes clear that the handling and mishandling of classified documents are a problem that stretches beyond the Oval Office."
"In fact, dozens of former Members of Congress and senior government officials have taken classified documents with them after leaving office and donated them to libraries and universities across the country," Turner said. "This is a systemic problem that dates to the Reagan Administration."
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"We need a better way for elected officials who are leaving office – in both the Executive Branch and Legislative Branch – to properly return classified material and protect the integrity of our national security," Turner said.
Turner was referring to Bosanko testimony, in which he told the committee that since 2010, NARA has received more than 80 calls from different libraries and universities to notify Archives officials that they had discovered classified information from former members of Congress, as well as former senior government officials in materials those individuals had submitted.
Meanwhile, Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Jack Smith to serve as special counsel to investigate Trump's alleged mishandling and retention of classified records from his presidency at his Mar-a-Lago home.
Garland also appointed Robert Hur to serve as special counsel to investigate President Biden’s alleged improper retention of classified records from the Obama administration.
Former Vice President Pence also had classified records at his home, a matter under review by the Justice Department.
Bosanko testified that he has been interviewed by the Department of Justice related to all three classified records cases.
Bosanko told the committee it is "very obvious that it is an ongoing investigation."
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