Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) said Wednesday that a classified "Gang of Eight" briefing the day before had brought the Senate Intelligence Committee "no closer" to conducting oversight of the mishandling of classified documents by President Joe Biden, former President Donald Trump, and former Vice President Mike Pence.
The Gang of Eight, the top four leaders in Congress and the chairmen and vice chairmen of the Senate and House Intelligence committees, went into the classified briefing not expecting to learn much about the documents found. Instead, officials were slated to outline the process the Department of Justice will utilize in deciding whether to give lawmakers access to the materials.
Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA), chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, and Rubio, the vice chairman, released a statement shortly after the briefing expressing that it "left much to be desired." But the press release was otherwise short on detail.
Rubio offered his thoughts to reporters on Wednesday, saying the DOJ is still stonewalling access.
“We can’t do our oversight job to determine whether the intelligence agencies properly assessed the risks, if any, and properly mitigated. We can't do that job without the information,” Rubio said.
SENATORS SAY GANG OF EIGHT BRIEFING ON CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS ‘LEFT MUCH TO BE DESIRED’
The classified briefing comes months after efforts by both Warner and Rubio to learn more about the documents seized. The Justice Department maintains the existence of special counsels in the Trump and Biden cases limits its ability to share information with Congress. It has also argued that the nature of the sensitive information could compromise the investigation.
Earlier this month, the senators sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland and Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines urging "immediate compliance" with their request for more information about the classified documents seized from Biden and Trump's possession.
Rubio and Warner argued that without access to the information, they could not “effectively oversee the efforts of the intelligence community to address risks to national security arising from the mishandling of classified information.”
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) echoed Rubio’s remarks at a press briefing on Wednesday, saying that the bipartisan group of lawmakers has presented a rare united front in their pursuit of more information.
“They did not answer my questions. My response back to them was that this was not productive, and they would have to go back and rethink about what they’re doing and then answer our questions and come back,” McCarthy told reporters. “We have a responsibility of overseeing these agencies and others, and so, when we ask questions, we should be able to have the answers and the documents to answer the questions. They need to provide this."
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Senators on the Intelligence Committee have said they continue to weigh all their options and have even threatened to take action to compel the administration to cooperate, which could include issuing subpoenas, withholding funding, or blocking Biden’s nominees until Congress is allowed to review the documents. Senators on both sides of the aisle have warned DOJ leadership they will utilize whatever leverage they have. Rubio foreshadowed that action on this front could be coming in the near future.
“I’ll talk to Warner about it and obviously our colleagues in the House as well. The intelligence agencies have a lot of requests outstanding to us,” Rubio explained. “I think that’s a partnership, and if they make it difficult for us to do our jobs, we’ll find ways to sort of make sure there’s some balance in our relationship.”
Juliegrace Brufke contributed to this report.