Top Senators on the Intelligence Committee are demanding that Attorney General Merrick Garland and National Intelligence Director Avril Haines turn over all classified documents seized at former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence and at the Penn Biden Center think tank, which housed records from Joe Biden’s time as vice president.
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Mark Warner (D-VA) in August 2022 demanded both Garland and Haines provide classified materials in relation to the investigation surrounding Trump’s Mar-a-Lago, and in January made a similar request following classified materials being found at the think tank. Now, the senators are urging “immediate compliance” with these requests following the DOJ not providing any documents, according to a Thursday letter written to Garland and Haines.
NATIONAL ARCHIVES ‘WASN’T ALLOWED’ TO REVEAL BIDEN CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS DISCOVERY
“In a letter dated January 28, 2023, the Department of Justice cited its ‘longstanding policy … to maintain the confidentiality of information regarding open matters’ and explained that [t]he Committee’s interest in overseeing the nation’s intelligence activities must be carefully balanced to protect the conduct and integrity of law enforcement investigations,'” the senators wrote, quoting the DOJ’s written language.
“We agree, but the Department alone does not decide this balance,” the senators continued. “Without access to the relevant classified documents we cannot effectively oversee the efforts of the Intelligence Community to address potential risks to national security arising from the mishandling of this classified information.”
The DOJ told the senators in January that prosecutors are trying to find ways to share information with the Intelligence Committee. Classified documents have been found between November 2022 and January at Biden’s Wilmington, Delaware, home and at the D.C. think tank, which Biden used as a private office between 2017 and 2020.
Two people who located classified materials at Mar-a-Lago in August 2022 testified in front of a federal grand jury in D.C. last week, according to CNN. Both people were also hired to go through Trump’s Bedminster, New Jersey, golf resort, Trump Tower in New York, an office in Florida, as well as a Florida storage unit, the outlet reported.
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Garland appointed special counsels to handle both the Trump and Biden investigations. Leading the charge on the Trump investigation is Jack Smith, an ex-war crimes prosecutor, and Robert Hur is leading that which involves Biden.
“Our request is not unprecedented,” the senators wrote in their letter. “In other investigations involving the mishandling of classified information the Attorney General and the Director of National Intelligence have accommodated the legitimate oversight needs of the Committee without detriment to any ongoing investigation.”
