Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., had an answer all queued up for his Newsmax interview Wednesday, when asked about the Biden White House slamming the addition of "extreme MAGA members" to the House Oversight Committee — as if the Pennsylvania Republican had been waiting two years to speak his peace.
"I've been thinking about that statement [for a while]," Perry, the new chair of the House Freedom Caucus, told "The Record With Greta Van Susteren."
"If defending the American people from record-high inflation, defending the American people from a southern border where the cartels are running it, defending the American people from record-high energy failures, and the [botched] Afghanistan pullout," Perry continued, if President Biden thinks that's 'extreme,' then you can tell it illustrates just how tone deaf he is to what the American people endure under his leadership every day."
Perry's blunt assessment of Biden's leadership acumen extends to nearly every facet of his administration — including Debra Steidel Wall, the acting archivist for the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA).
Wall claimed Wednesday the NARA would need Department of Justice clearance to share information related to the three batches of classified records found in Joe Biden's Delaware home, along with a Washington, D.C., office (the Penn Biden Center) — from a time when Biden was vice president, a position that does not hold declassification powers.
The Oversight Committee might have to collect testimony from Wall, sooner than later, Perry said.
"These are classified documents; there can be no loss in chain of custody," Perry said of Wall. "Look, where I come from, these are crimes. People [who mishandle classified materials] get prosecuted for them, and people are sent to jail" for committing similar crimes.
Wall has been entrusted with handling top-secret government materials, which means she must always have a full accounting of every sensitive document, Perry said.
During the FBI raid on former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort over a documents dispute, "lots of Democrats said that 'no one is above the law,' and I agree with them," Perry said. "And that includes this president [Biden] and anybody else that was involved in the mishandling of classified documents."
Regarding her October statement that all classified documents had been accounted for, which turned out to be false, Perry said Wall was "either ignorant or incompetent."
"[Federal officials] just don't hand out top-secret clearance to anybody," he said. "It involves a rigorous background check," since the position has serious responsibilities for protecting national security.
"Either [NARA] didn't know [about Biden's batches of classified materials], or they were covering up" for the White House, Perry lamented. "And that's not acceptable for any reason."
About NEWSMAX TV:
NEWSMAX is the fastest-growing cable news channel in America!
© 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.