Last Thursday, August 18, the House Oversight Committee revealed that it found documents in the National Archives confirming that President Joe Biden, in his time as vice president, used three pseudonyms to address via email issues related to Ukraine and his son Hunter Biden’s controversial business dealings.
According to a Breitbart report, put together by reporter Wendell Husebø, Joe Biden was not the only one to engage in this "peculiar" practice. Five other officials, including former President Barack Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, did as well.
"Whether connected to a government network or not, it is unusual for government officials to use an email alias," Breitbart reads. "Not only is it peculiar, it raises questions about why Obama administration officials utilized aliases and whether government secrets were compromised."
Who are the Obama administration officials who used aliases and why is it controversial?
In addition to Biden, Clinton and Obama — arguably the most notable names in the Breitbart report — three other officials used pseudonyms in emails: Lisa Jackson, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA); Loretta Lynch, Obama-era attorney general; and Eric Holder, also attorney general from 2009 to 2015.
Jackson used the email pseudonym "Richard Windsor," according to the conservative think tank Competitive Enterprise Institute.
The organization discovered the former EPA administrator allegedly used the alias for certification tests on ethics and cybersecurity, a situation strongly criticized by Republicans as "it might be part of an effort to skirt transparency and public records requirements,” according to The Washington Post.
Lynch, meanwhile, used the alias "Elizabeth Carlisle." In 2017, the conservative media outlet The Federalist reported that the former attorney general could be part of an alleged cover-up of an investigation into Hillary Clinton's email server, according to an admission by Lynch's lawyer.
In that same report, The Federalist reported that the use of aliases in emails by Obama officials became common practice. It specifically mentioned Eric Holder.
The former attorney general used up to three different pseudonyms. Two of them were "Henry Yearwood" and "David Kendricks.” The third has not yet been revealed.
Meanwhile, former President Obama used the alias "Obama725" to communicate with his Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton.
So far, the State Department has denied requests to make public those and other emails Clinton exchanged with Obama.
Clinton, meanwhile, used the aliases "hdr22" and "hrod17." The former secretary of state has been investigated and criticized for allegedly violating the Espionage Act of 1913 by allowing national defense information to be "lost, stolen, stolen or destroyed" by "gross negligence."
Joe Biden's case, finally, is related to his son, Hunter and his business dealings in Ukraine.
According to Republican Congressman James Comer, chairman of the Oversight Committee, the then-Democratic vice president had a call on May 27, 2016 with the former president of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko, however, the record was sent to one of Biden's three aliases and not to his official mail.
"Attached to this email, and made available on the NARA website, is a document that indicates at 9:00 a.m. on May 27, 2016, Vice President Biden took a call with the president of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko. It is concerning to the Committee, however, that this document was sent to 'Robert L. Peters' -a pseudonym the Committee has identified as then Vice-President Biden," reads a letter from Comer to the National Archives. "Additionally, the Committee questions why the then-Vice President's son, Hunter Biden—and only Hunter Biden—was copied on this email to then-Vice President Biden."
According to the letter, Biden also used the pseudonyms "Robin Ware," "Robert L. Peters" and "JRB ware" in emails dealing with official and family matters.
The pseudonyms are controversial and Republicans are investigating how much interference Biden had in Hunter's business dealings.
In fact, Biden, in his time as vice president, actively lobbied to fire Ukrainian prosecutor Viktor Shokin, who was investigating Burisma, the energy firm where Hunter Biden worked as a senior manager, for corruption without having experience in the field.
