Congressional lawmakers will reportedly receive a briefing from Biden administration officials on President Joe Biden’s classified document scandal as soon as this week after weeks of stonewalling.
Despite the administration’s claims of transparency, the briefing would not include direct access to the contents of the classified materials Biden stashed at the Penn Biden Center and his Wilmington residence, according to the Associated Press.
The White House has failed to provide transparency in public or private about the scandal, citing “the ongoing criminal investigations and a separate ‘risk assessment’ of the possible damage to intelligence sources.”
“I have to be really careful,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre has repeatedly responded to reporters about the “ongoing investigation.”
Among the classified materials reportedly found among troves of documents is information related to Ukraine, where the Biden family has conducted business dealings.
If the briefing occurs, the “Gang of Eight” would receive the disclosure. The “Gang of Eight” refers to the Republican and Democratic leaders of the House and Senate and of both intelligence committees.
Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, pauses to speak with reporters at the Capitol in Washington, Nov. 10, 2022. Members of the Senate intelligence committee say they should have access to classified documents that were discovered in the homes of President Joe Biden, former President Donald Trump and former Vice President Mike Pence.(AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), the chairman and vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, have been demanding transparency from the administration for weeks. With no response, they wrote a letter last week to Attorney General Merrick Garland and Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines for a briefing.
Biden’s classified document scandal has continued to grow. Last week, a leak to the press revealed the FBI searched the Penn Biden Center in mid-November. Biden’s personal attorney only acknowledged the search after it was leaked to the press months after its occurrences.
On February 1, the FBI took an extraordinary step and searched Biden’s second home in Delaware, even though the president claimed no classified documents were there. The FBI’s search unearthed notes from Biden’s time as vice president during the Biden administration. Critics say those notes could relate to information related to the Biden family’s business dealings.
The Department of Justice initially opened an investigation into the scandal on January 12, just after the scandal was leaked to the press on January 9. The initial documents were found by Biden’s personal attorneys on November 2.
At least three reports from establishment media indicate the White House and the Justice Department agreed to hide the scandal from the American public.
White House officials are reportedly suspicious about how Biden’s classified document scandal was leaked to the press after only a select group of White House and DOJ officials knew about the violation.
The White House has failed to provide a reason or cause for the initial search.
Follow Wendell Husebø on Twitter @WendellHusebø. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality.
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