House Speaker Mike Johnson on Tuesday ordered the entire administration of President Joe Biden to preserve all records and communications in the waning days of the outgoing Democrat administration as former President Donald Trump’s team prepares to take over.
Johnson, Breitbart News has learned exclusively, has sent letters to all 18 federal Departments ordering them to retain and preserve documents. This could become an explosive storyline if outgoing Biden administration officials attempt to delete or destroy documents that shed light on some of the radical policies they pursued or scandals with regard to censorship or other major storylines of the past four years, such as the deadly withdrawal from Afghanistan or the wide open border. If anyone is caught destroying any records, that could lead to serious federal criminal penalties—and with President-elect Trump’s team coming in to take over on Jan. 20, 2025, the new incoming administration will find all evidence on this front.
This effort from Johnson is a sign Republicans are far more prepared during this transition to a Trump administration than they were the first time around when Trump won his first term back in 2016, and suggests they mean business when it comes to rooting out corruption across the federal government as Trump assembles his Cabinet and Republicans on Capitol Hill prepare for next year.
One such letter, sent to Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su, makes clear that Congress per Johnson intends to pursue such documents and evidence as the administration changes hands during and after the transition.
“As we begin preparation for a new Trump Administration and new Congress, we fully expect your cooperation in a smooth transition of power,” Johnson wrote to Su. “To that end, it is imperative that during the transition you comply with all statutory record retention requirements, including but not limited to the Federal Records Act. In addition to compliance with federal record retention laws, we are also expressly directing that all necessary steps be taken to preserve relevant Department documents and communications.”
Eighteen versions of this letter, which many other House Republicans, including House Majority Leader Steve Scalise and Majority Whip Tom Emmer, among others, also signed, have per a senior Johnson aide been sent across the federal government to every major Cabinet secretary in the Biden administration.
In the next paragraph of the letter, Johnson zones in on specific things he is focused on oversight-wise during this process. He highlights the border, Afghanistan, government censorship, weaponization of the government against conservatives, and antisemitism as key examples.
“During the 118th Congress, House Committees conducted robust oversight concerning the Biden-Harris Administration’s disastrous border policies, tragic Afghanistan withdrawal, collusion with social media companies to suppress free speech, and weaponization of federal agencies against its political opponents, as well as the antisemitism at our nation’s universities enabled by leading Democrats,” Johnson wrote.
Johnson also noted that the Biden administration refused to comply with many lawfully-issued subpoenas during this Congress, and that in the end of this Congress and in the next one—Republicans have held their House majority and picked up the U.S. Senate majority in addition to winning back the White House—Congress will be enforcing these thus-far blown-off subpoenas.
“In the waning days of this Congress, House Committees will continue to seek compliance with many of the subpoenas with which you largely declined to cooperate,” Johnson wrote. “Likewise, as the 119th Congress begins, the Committees may determine that it is necessary to reissue certain subpoenas as they continue with their oversight efforts.”
Read the letter below:
11.12.24 Letter to Acting Sec. Su by Breitbart News on Scribd
