[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 198 (Monday, November 15, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8067-S8068]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                              Hunter Biden

  Now, Mr. President, on another shorter issue, I want to bring up 
something that deals with something I deal with a lot, what we call 
oversight, to make sure that we have transparency to our government, 
because transparency brings accountability, and this is something we 
are having a hard time getting answers on.
  On July 30 of this year, Senator Johnson of Wisconsin and I sent a 
letter to the White House Counsel. That letter was based on media 
reports--yes, media reports--that then-Vice President Biden used 
private emails for government business. If that happened, that is 
wrong, and we ought to know about it.
  As part of that use, he sent government information to his son Hunter 
Biden. The news reports provided details about then-Vice President 
Biden's email addresses at that time and the fake names that he used 
for that email.
  As one example from the reported emails, in 2016, an employee of the 
Office of the Vice President emailed Biden his schedule and copied 
Hunter Biden. In another email in 2016, the same employee reportedly 
emailed Vice President Biden about an early morning preparation for a 9 
a.m. phone call with the Ukrainian President. Hunter Biden was again 
reportedly copied on that email.
  As we all know, Hunter Biden served on the board of a corrupt 
Ukrainian energy company at the time of these emails. Certainly, Hunter 
Biden would

[[Page S8068]]

have been quite interested in any and all information relating to the 
U.S. Government's communication with the Ukrainian Government.
  Now, if these reports are accurate, it is unclear whether Vice 
President Biden forwarded related emails to a government account to 
satisfy Federal recordkeeping requirements. It kind of sounds familiar, 
doesn't it? Just remember, the same issues came up with Hillary 
Clinton.
  Given Vice President Biden's apparent pattern and practice with 
government emails, Senator Johnson and I would like to know if this 
pattern and practice has continued as President of the United States. 
That is why, on July 30, as I indicated, Senator Johnson and I asked 
exactly that question.
  First, we asked, according to the letter: ``What steps did then-Vice 
President Biden take to ensure that all his government emails and 
related communications were properly stored and archived?'' In other 
words, did they follow the law?
  Second, we asked: ``Does President Biden use nongovernment email to 
communicate government business or email his family members government 
information? If so, what steps have been taken to ensure that those 
communications satisfy federal record-keeping and archival 
requirements?''
  Now, these sound like pretty simple questions that President Biden 
can answer quickly. Moreover, it would be quite easy for the President 
to deny reports if these reports were not accurate. Our letter provided 
President Biden that opportunity.
  To date, we haven't received a response. In fact, as you can tell 
from July 30, it has been nearly 3 months.
  The fact that the White House Counsel's Office and President Biden 
can't find time to answer these threshold questions draws suspicion. 
One would think that the White House would gladly answer that the 
President isn't using government email to communicate government 
business with family members.
  Now, wouldn't one think that the White House would very gladly say 
that it is properly archiving email records?
  This is a matter of transparency, and it is a matter of transparency 
where the public deserves answers.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Texas.