In a letter unveiled by the House Oversight Committee on Thursday, Archives Adviser Gary Stern said the agency was unable to respond to the committee’s request for more information, based on the archives’ “consultation” with the Justice Department. After receiving the March 28 letter from the National Archives, also known as NARA, the chair of the House Oversight Committee, Carolyn Maloney, a Democrat from New York, contacted Attorney General Merrick Garland for additional information on why the Department Justice obstructs the Archives in cooperation with the committee. “I am writing today because the Ministry of Justice is preventing NARA from cooperating with the request of the Commission, which is intervening in the Commission’s investigation,” she wrote in a letter dated Thursday. “By preventing NARA from producing the documents requested by the Commission, the Department is obstructing the Commission’s investigation.” Maloney says the commission “does not wish to interfere in any way with any possible or ongoing investigation by the Department of Justice.” However, he says the commission has not received any explanation as to why the Justice Department is blocking the Archives from providing information to the commission, which is investigating possible violations of the Presidential Records Act by Trump. FBI and Justice prosecutors conduct regular inspections when they are found to be handling or storing classified material in ways that do not meet government requirements. The transfer and storage of classified information in the former president’s private club in Florida appears to be outside these requirements. It is also common practice for the Department of Justice to limit the information that government agencies share with Congress while investigations are ongoing. The Ministry of Justice declined to comment. The Archives did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In February, Garland answered questions about the Archives’ evaluation that classified material was found in Mar-A-Lago boxes. He said the Archives had informed the Ministry of Justice “and we will do what we always do in these circumstances: look at the facts and the law and get it from there”. This story and title have been updated with additional developments on Thursday.
