Monday, the Southeastern Legal Foundation reported that the National Archives holds approximately 5,400 emails from accounts created by now-President Joe Biden that he used to communicate under a false name with his son Hunter during the Obama administration.

The foundation announced that it has filed a lawsuit to obtain the emails after the National Archives failed to comply with a Freedom of Information Act request.

As one of its exhibits, the lawsuit includes a letter from National Archives Director Stephanie Oriabure to Southeastern Legal Foundation general counsel Kimberly S. Hermann.

In a letter dated 24 June 2022, Oriabure stated that the Archives had identified nearly 5,400 items that were “responsive” to the SLF’s request.

“We have performed a search of our collection for Vice Presidential records related to your request and have identified approximately 5,138 email messages, 25 electronic files and 200 pages of potentially responsive records that must be processed in order to respond to your request,” Oriabure wrote.

Two 2016 emails were sent from former Biden aide John Flynn to the then-vice president. In June, the National Archives and Records Administration released a case record of four emails, two of which were redacted and two of which were withheld. According to Newsweek, Hunter Biden was copied on both correspondences.

Biden utilized the aliases Robin Ware, Robert L. Peters, and JRB Ware, according to the foundation’s website.

The foundation stated that it first attempted to obtain the emails in 2021, but was informed that they could not be disclosed until after January 20, 2022, five years after the archives acquired them.

The foundation stated in a press release that a Freedom of Information Act request was lodged on June 9, 2022.

“Unfortunately, after identifying nearly 5,400 potentially responsive records, NARA has dragged its feet and still has not produced a single email,” the release stated.

In the release, Hermann said too many public officials abuse their power for “personal or political benefite.”

“When they do, many seek to hide it,” she said. “The only way to preserve governmental integrity is for NARA to release Biden’s nearly 5,400 emails to SLF and thus the public. The American public deserves to know what is in them.”

Brandon Boucek, the foundation’s director of litigation, stated that legal action was the organization’s last resort.

“Public transparency is the most vital check the citizens have for holding our political class accountable. After over a year of trying to work with NARA, its continued unreasonable delays have forced SLF to file this lawsuit,” Boucek said in the release.

As part of their investigation into the business activities of Biden family members, House Republicans are also attempting to obtain these emails, according to the foundation.

Ex-Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich expressed his disdain in a social media post.

“So the National Archives could find President Trump’s material quickly but somehow missed 5400 emails from Vice President Biden’s archives. Oh and those only happen to be the 5400 emails that involve business, corruption and Hunter Biden. Fire the archivist now,” he wrote.

So the National Archives could find President Trump’s material quickly but somehow missed 5400 emails from Vice President Biden’s archives. Oh and those only happen to be the 5400 emails that involve business, corruption and Hunter Biden. Fire the archivist now

— Newt Gingrich (@newtgingrich) August 29, 2023

“Joe Biden has stated there was ‘an absolute wall’ between his family’s foreign business schemes and his duties as Vice President, but evidence reveals that access was wide open for his family’s influence peddling,” House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer said earlier this month in discussing his request to the National Archives to provide Biden’s emails, according to The Hill.

“We already have evidence of then-Vice President Biden speaking, dining, and having coffee with his son’s foreign business associates. We also know that Hunter Biden and his associates were informed of then-Vice President Biden’s official government duties in countries where they had a financial interest. The National Archives must provide these unredacted records to further our investigation into the Biden family’s corruption,” the Kentucky Republican said.

According to a report by Just the News, father and son used pseudonymous communications for multiple purposes.

It referenced an email sent by Hunter Biden to his father in June 2014 regarding a vacancy at the Treasury Department.

“Before you fill the positions, pls talk to me,” Hunter Biden wrote.

“Call me right away, Dad,” Joe Biden responded.