In their pursuit of answers about the contents of the classified documents found in possession of President Biden and former President Donald Trump, the Senate’s top lawmakers on the Intelligence Committee on Sunday blasted intel officials over the lack of transparency.
The panel’s chair, Democrat Mark Warner of Virginia, and its ranking member, Republican Marco Rubio of Florida, said during a joint appearance on CBS’s “Face the Nation” that it seems the press knows more about the contents of the sensitive materials than they do.
“There isn’t a day that goes by that there isn’t some media report about what was found where, some sort of characterization of the material in the press,” Mr. Rubio said. “Somehow the only people who are not allowed to know what was in there are congressional oversight committees.”
Federal authorities have so far rebuffed lawmakers’ demands for a briefing on the contents of the classified documents found in the private possession of both presidents, arguing that they are the subject of ongoing investigations by the Department of Justice.
But that argument doesn’t make sense, Mr. Rubio and Mr. Warner said.
“I don’t know how congressional oversight on the documents, actually knowing what they are, in any way impedes an investigation,” Mr. Rubio said. “These are probably materials we already have access to. We just don’t know which ones they are.”
“The Justice Department has had the Trump documents for about six months, the Biden documents about three months,” Mr. Warner said. “Our job is not to figure out if somebody mishandled those. Our job is to make sure there’s not an intelligence compromise.”
• Ramsey Touchberry can be reached at rtouchberry@washingtontimes.com.