Top Congressional leaders have gained access and are reviewing classified documents recovered from the homes of former President Donald Trump, President Biden, and former Vice President Mike Pence. It’s been an ongoing battle between lawmakers and the Justice Department on whether congressional oversight of classified materials is warranted while the DOJ has ongoing investigations. Ultimately, Congress won and got its first look at the documents during the week of April 2.
For months, the Biden administration had refused to share the documents with the Senate Intelligence Committee. But the DOJ began producing documents last week to the “Gang of Eight,” which includes an elite group of lawmakers, the Democratic and Republican leaders in both chambers, as well as chair and vice chair of both the House and Senate Intelligence Committees.
The Justice Department argued sharing the documents could compromise its ongoing special counsel investigations.
Sens. Mark Warner and Marco Rubio, leading the Senate Intelligence Committee, argued it was the right of Congress to oversee what documents the presidents had in their private possession.
There is a precedent for congressional oversight of special counsel investigations.
During Robert Mueller’s investigation of alleged Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, the Intelligence Committee received information to then come up with their own report and findings. That will now be the case in the classified documents investigations.
