WASHINGTON TIMES: DAVID BOSSIE: Biden’s axis of secrecy: Control the narrative, cling to power

Congressional Republicans are finding out how challenging it is to fulfill their constitutional duty of executive branch oversight when forced to deal with an unprecedented axis of secrecy that has locked arms to help reelect President Biden.

The axis consists of the Biden administration — the least transparent administration in history — and its political allies in the corrupt mainstream media and a cadre of left-wing obstructionists in Congress. They work hand in glove to deny the American people information and to ignore newsworthy events that might damage their cause of fundamentally transforming the United States of America into a “woke” socialist state.

Due to this destructive pattern of keeping Americans in the dark, lots of important issues on Capitol Hill aren’t getting nearly enough attention. First, news broke that an IRS agent investigating the president’s son Hunter Biden, who blew the whistle on the Justice Department’s alleged mishandling of the yearslong inquiry, was removed from the case along with his entire team. Since then, a second IRS whistleblower has come forward to offer even more details about what’s happening behind the scenes.

Normally, using the levers of power in government to retaliate against a whistleblower is behavior that garners a strong bipartisan rebuke and is covered extensively by the media across the board. Sadly, in Joe Biden’s America, this is no longer the case. In the course of a little more than two years, Democrats and the left-wing media have gone from showcasing unflinching support for whistleblowers to disrespect and indifference.

Along the same lines, the FBI recently failed to comply with a congressional subpoena for a document that alleges specific and detailed criminal activity by Mr. Biden during his tenure as vice president. The existence of the document in question was disclosed by another courageous whistleblower and, due to the explosive topic, is something that would typically get wall-to-wall coverage.

Unfortunately, potential wrongdoing by powerful establishment Democrats like Joe Biden is largely ignored these days, and congressional subpoenas are treated differently by the mainstream media if they’re issued by Republicans.

Another important story that’s being glossed over by congressional Democrats and the liberal media is the State Department’s refusal to fully comply with a congressional subpoena for documents relating to President Biden’s botched withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan that would be politically detrimental if disclosed. The situation got so bad that House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul was about to hold Secretary of State Antony Blinken in contempt of Congress until Mr. Blinken finally bowed to pressure in the 11th hour.

The least transparent administration in history is still refusing to release the document to the public and allowed only Mr. McCaul and the ranking Democrat on the committee to review it in secret. This is the same stunt that Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen pulled with Hunter Biden’s suspicious activity reports after months of delay. The good news is that Republicans on the committee are continuing to fight for more transparency and accountability, and Mr. Blinken isn’t off the hook — not by a long shot.

The CIA is also stiff-arming legitimate congressional oversight efforts by failing to turn over all records relating to the infamous October 2020 letter signed by 51 former intelligence officials falsely claiming the Hunter Biden laptop was Russian disinformation. The letter was used to give then-candidate Biden an angle to dismiss the contents of the laptop in a prime-time presidential debate against then-President Donald Trump. As it turns out, the Biden laptop is real, and the letter in question was actually disinformation.

This disturbing turn of events is precisely the kind of information that the axis of secrecy wants to contain at all costs.

Last but not least is the left’s monolithic push to discredit and suppress special counsel John Durham’s long-awaited report on the Obama-Biden administration’s decision to allow the Justice Department and FBI to investigate then-candidate Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign. Mr. Durham’s troubling findings confirm that the investigation should have never been opened because the bogus allegations were based on phony political opposition research paid for and executed by Hillary Clinton and her failed campaign. Everyone knew it, including then-President Barack Obama and then-Vice President Biden.

The fake Russia collusion investigation and the liberal media’s blind coverage of it dragged on for more than four years, even though it should have never gotten off the launch pad. It’s a story that should be dominating the news and drawing outrage from both sides of the political aisle so that it never happens again, but not in Mr. Biden’s closed society.

Sadly, we’ll never know the full story because former FBI Director James Comey, former FBI acting Director Andrew McCabe and many others weren’t even questioned by Mr. Durham’s office — another story the mainstream media won’t touch with a 10-foot pole.

After nearly 2½ years, it’s become clear that secrecy, delay, nondisclosure, obstruction, and frivolous document redactions are the Biden administration’s preferred modus operandi, but left-wing media elites and dishonest Democrats in Congress couldn’t care less because they share a goal: Control the narrative and cling to power in order to realize their dream for the Socialist States of America.

• David N. Bossie is president of Citizens United and served as deputy campaign manager for Donald J. Trump for President.