by - The DOJ will inform some lawmakers about the nature of the classified records retrieved from Trump and Biden.
- According to the NYT, DOJ officials will inform members of Congress’ “Gang of 8” about the materials later this month.
- So far, the DOJ has resisted bipartisan pleas from lawmakers to gain access to the documents.
The Justice Department will brief a group of lawmakers on confidential documents recovered from President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump, the New York Times reported on Wednesday.
The briefing, which will take place later in the month, comes after lawmakers on both sides of the aisle asked to see classified records that were improperly stored on Trump and Biden properties.
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 ranking members of the House and Senate intelligence committees.
The report also said the Justice Department will not grant lawmakers access to the records because they are critical to ongoing investigations into Trump and Biden, but will give the Gang of 8 some details about the nature of the documents.
FBI personnel searched Biden’s properties at least three times as part of their investigation into the handling of classified documents.
Biden attorneys first discovered a cache of classified materials from his time as vice president in his former office at the Penn-Biden Center on Nov. 2 and immediately notified the White House attorney’s office, which then contacted the National Archives. . The documents were turned over to the Archives shortly thereafter, and the FBI also searched the office in mid-November and began to assess whether confidential documents had been mishandled.
In December, Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed John Lausch, a Trump-era U.S. attorney in Chicago, to handle the preliminary inquiry.
That same month, Biden’s legal representatives told Lausch that they had discovered additional classified materials in the garage of Biden’s personal residence in Delaware.
In January, Garland appointed a special counsel to investigate Biden’s handling of classified information.
On January 21, Bob Bauer, Biden’s personal attorney, announced that the Justice Department had also searched the president’s home in Wilmington, Delaware, and discovered half a dozen classified documents. And earlier this month, the FBI searched Biden’s second home in Rehoboth, Delaware. Bauer announced the search in a statement and said upon completion that no additional classified files had been discovered.
Trump, meanwhile, is facing his own criminal investigation after the FBI executed a search warrant on his Mar-a-Lago property last August and recovered troves of classified documents that Trump resisted turning 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 extensive investigation into the January 6, 2021 riot at the Capitol.
Last week, Politico reported that Jack Smith, the special counsel in charge of the Trump investigations, subpoenaed former Vice President Mike Pence to testify before the grand jury. The agency reported Tuesday that Pence is planning to resist the subpoena citing legislative privilege.
