Washington – Rep. Mike Turner, the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, said Sunday he could not think of a reason President Biden would have classified documents from his time as vice president and senator in his home state. Delaware.
“That’s a really critical question to all of this — why does he have these documents?” Turner said in an interview with “Face the Nation.” “And that’s why the work of the special counsel is going to be so important, because I can’t think of any reason why the president should have taken home, as a senator or as a vice president, any classified documents that clearly have no protection. accessible and open to all.”
Bob Bauer, Mr. Biden’s personal lawyer, revealed this on Saturday six more subjects The classifieds were discovered during a search by the FBI on Friday at the president’s home in Wilmington, Delaware.
In addition to the records, some of which were from Mr. Biden’s time in the Senate and others from his time as vice president, federal investigators took handwritten notes for further study, Bauer said.
Friday’s release of records was the latest since early November, when Mr. Biden’s lawyers found about 10 classified documents dating back to his time as vice president in his former office at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement in Washington. The next search of the president’s house in Wilmington on December 20 revealed a the second party recorded in the garage, and a total of six pages of classified documents were found during the search his private library.
A source familiar with the investigation told CBS News that the total number of classified documents recovered since November is between 25 and 30.
In response to the initial revelations at the Penn Biden Center and Mr. Biden’s home in Wilmington, Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed special adviserformer federal prosecutor Robert Goure to oversee the materials investigation.
Turner told “Face the Nation” that determining why Mr. Biden had the documents and who he showed them to would be “crucial” to the Goor investigation.
“Chain of custody is going to be important here because we know they were in Joe Biden’s hands and under Joe Biden’s control and then ended up behind his Corvette in his garage and in his office that he didn’t control and for the special prosecutor will have to deal with what was the chain of custody? Who had them? Why did he take them? When did he get them? When were these documents handed over to him? And what did he do with them?” said the Ohio Republican, who is expected to lead the Intelligence Committee.
Republicans have criticized Mr. Biden for his handling of classified material — Turner called the president a “serial hoarder of classified documents” — and accused the Justice Department of treating Mr. Biden differently than former President Donald Trump, who is under investigation for alleged improper the removal and storage of classified information in unauthorized locations, and the alleged illegal concealment or removal of government documents.
Neither is the Republican-led Oversight and Accountability Committee started an investigation into documents found on Mr. Biden while the panel is in session rely on examination The Justice Department is looking into cases involving Mr. Biden and Mr. Trump.
Turner asked Director of National Intelligence Avril Haynes for damage assessment of Mr. Biden’s Vice President’s documents, as well as a conduct briefing. On Sunday, he said he had not heard back from the intelligence community.
In Trump’s case, more than 300 classified documents were found at his South Florida residence, Mar-a-Lago, and efforts by the National Archives and Records Administration to recover records of Trump’s presidency lasted more than a year.
Amid the controversy, the Justice Department obtained a grand jury subpoena in May for all of the documents designated as classified in Trump’s executive order at Mar-a-Lago and secured a court-approved search warrant after discovering evidence that the classified documents were still on the property. Mar-a-Lago in early August.
In November, Garland appointed special counsel Jack Smith to take over the Justice Department’s investigation into Trump’s handling of classified government documents.
The White House emphasized that Mr. Biden has cooperated with the Justice Department’s investigation and will continue to do so. On Saturday, Bauer said the president and his personal lawyers had offered to grant “emergency access” to his Wilmington home to allow the Justice Department to search the entire premises for the vice president’s documents and those classified as classified.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/biden-documents-mike-turner-intelligence-committee-face-the-nation/
