by - The DOJ will brief some lawmakers on the nature of the classified records recovered by Trump and Biden.
- According to the NYT, DOJ officials will brief members of Congress’ “Gang of 8” on the materials later this month.
- The DOJ has so far resisted bipartisan demands from lawmakers to gain access to the documents itself.
The Justice Department will brief a group of lawmakers on the classified documents seized by President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump, the New York Times reported Wednesday.
The briefing, which will take place later this month, comes after lawmakers from both sides of the aisle asked to see the secret records improperly kept in Trump and Biden’s possessions.
According to The Times, the briefing will be limited to the Gang of 8, which consists of the Democratic and Republican leaders of the House and Senate, as well as the chairs and senior members of the House and Senate intelligence committees.
The report also states that the Justice Department will not allow lawmakers access to the records themselves because they are vital to the ongoing investigations into Trump and Biden, but they will provide the Gang of 8 with some details about the nature of the documents.
FBI agents searched Biden’s property at least three times as part of his investigation into his handling of classified documents.
Biden’s attorneys first discovered a cache of classified materials from his vice presidential days in his old office at the Penn-Biden Center on Nov. 2 and immediately notified the White House office, which then contacted the National Archives. The documents were turned over to the archives shortly thereafter, and the FBI also raided the office in mid-November and began evaluating whether classified documents had been mishandled.
Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed John Lausch, a Trump-era US attorney in Chicago, to handle the preliminary investigation in December.
That same month, Biden’s legal representatives told Lausch that they had discovered additional classified materials in the garage of Biden’s home in Delaware.
In January, Garland appointed a special counsel to investigate Biden’s handling of classified information.
On Jan. 21, Bob Bauer, a personal attorney for Biden, announced that the Justice Department also searched the president’s home in Wilmington, Delaware, and discovered half a dozen documents marked confidential. And earlier this month, the FBI searched Biden’s second home in Rehoboth, Delaware. Bauer announced the search in a statement and said after it was completed that no other classified files had been discovered.
Trump, meanwhile, faces a criminal investigation of his own after the FBI issued a search warrant on his Mar-a-Lago property last August and seized treasure trove of classified documents Trump had refused to hand over to the government.
Garland also appointed a special counsel to oversee all ongoing investigations involving Trump, including the investigation of classified documents and the DOJ’s broad investigation into the January 6, 2021 Capitol riots.
Last week, Politico reported that Jack Smith, the special counsel in the Trump investigation, subpoenaed former Vice President Mike Pence to testify before the grand jury. The outlet reported Tuesday that Pence plans to resist the subpoena by invoking legislative privilege.
