Joe, AKA Robert L Peters AKA Robin Ware AKA JRB Ware

The news that the Comer Committee has asked the National Archives for "unrestricted special access" to unredacted Biden records where the names Robert Peters, Robin Ware, and JRB Ware, among others, appear is particularly delicious. I've got to say my first reaction is that use of aliases is a key indicator for sociopathic or psychopathic personality traits, or, without getting anywhere near a diagnosis, a sign that something is hinky.

The most memorable recent use of an alias by a politician is former congressman Anthony Weiner's use of the name Carlos Danger in sexting various women, including at least one minor. That episode ended his marriage, on top of earlier on line indiscretions that had already ended his career, and other e-mails discovered on his laptop during subsequent investigation have been cited by Hillary Clinton as one reason she lost the 2016 election. He eventually served 18 months in federal prison and is a registered sex offender.

Another recent case is failed Republican presidential candidate and current US Senator Mitt Romney's use of a Twitter account under the name Pierre Delecto.

Twitter user Pierre Delecto was found out to be Romney after the Utah senator and GOP presidential candidate mentioned using a private account to follow what was happening on the social media website. It didn't take long for Slate reporter Ashley Feinberg, who also outed former FBI Director James Comey's secret account, to discover Delecto was in fact Romney.

During a 30-minute interview with USA TODAY, Romney said the account was set up by his son, Matt, in 2011. He says it was used mainly to browse what was being discussed and read news articles.

, , , "I think I had eight people who were following me, so it's not like I was shaping public opinion," he added.

Romney did reply to some tweets, both from journalists and colleagues in Congress, sticking up for himself or offering his opinion on issues. It's not uncommon for politicians to use Twitter to get their views across or reply to journalists or colleagues or even stick up for themselves – but Romney's use of an anonymous account was peculiar.

Use of phony names on accounts is common on social media, but it's usually associated with immaturity, social media overuse, or intent to deceive, and if Romney has never been implicated in any sort of unethical or improper behavior, unlike Joe, he did himself no favors with Pierre Delecto. Nobody does himself any favors with aliases.

Chairman Comer's take seems credible:

“I believe that one reason that Hunter was CC’ed on those emails, where Joe Biden was using a fake name, is so Hunter could prove to the Ukrainian oligarch that help is on the way,” Comer said. “We heard Devon Archer say that the owners of Burisma were squeezing Hunter Biden, saying we need help from Washington.”

“Who do you think they were referring to when they were talking to Hunter Biden — who they said was dumber than their dogs, who was a drug addict, who had no experience, that 'we need help from Washington?' Who do you think they were talking about?” the congressman continued. “And here we see, now, evidence that shows Joe Biden didn’t have a wall between the government and his son’s shady business dealings. He was copying him on foreign policy to let him know ahead of time: ‘Help is on the way. We’re gonna go in there, and we’re going to fire that prosecutor who is trying to bust you for corruption, son.’”

. . . When asked if the investigation now directly includes allegations against Joe Biden for bribery and money laundering, the Kentucky Republican said, “That’s a very fair statement.”

The question of the aliases does in fact bring the questions closer to Joe himself, and this changes the White House game. Up to now, the line, steadily losing credibility notwithstanding, had been that Hunter's business was separate from Joe, that the Department of Justice is doing an independent investigation, and all questions must go to DOJ. All of a sudden, for the first time, reporters can ask why Joe himself used aliases. The problem now seems to be that Joe's handlers can't discuss it with him:

"Hunter Biden is not a topic of discussion in campaign meetings," a senior aide told CNN. "It’s just not addressed."

CNN's Jeff Zeleny detailed this reporting on Thursday and said that aides "do wonder if there will be a blind spot about this because it is simply not mentioned or discussed on the campaign."

The evidence we have from Watergate is that even if Nixon discussed his problems with his staff, their advice was never very helpful, mostly just adding neologisms like "modified limited hangout" to the language without developing any effective strategy.

"Mr President, why did you have the Obama White House copy you on policy e-mails using alias names?" is an obvious question any reporter should ask, but it's something Joe can't allow without a really convincing answer. We'll have to see what develops.