Republicans And Democrats Want Biden Administration To Comply On Classified Documents

In a rare case of concord between Republicans and Democrats, Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA), and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) agreed recently that the Biden administration’s failure to provide the classified documents taken from Joe Biden is fishy.

Warner, the Chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, and Rubio, the vice chair and ranking member, in a joint interview with CBS’ Face The Nation, echoed Republicans’ complaints that the Biden administration is hindering the committee’s efforts to examine the classified documents taken from Joe Biden, Donald Trump, and Mike Pence.

Warner said that Biden Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines’ excuse for not complying with the committee’s demands cannot be allowed to fly as the documents are crucial to determine if national security has been compromised in the mishandling of the files.

Rubio agreed with Warner, saying that the situation is “untenable” and needs to be resolved quickly.

Haines had told the committee that she could not give them access to the documents because separate special counsel investigations are ongoing on the case. The DNI says the committee can’t have the documents unless “ the special prosecutor somehow says it’s okay.” But Rubio doesn’t see how congressional oversight impedes the investigation.

“These are probably materials we already have access to, we just don’t know which ones they are. And it’s not about being nosy, you know, here’s the bottom line: if, in fact, those documents were very sensitive, the materials were sensitive, and they pose a counterintelligence or national security threat to the United States, then the intelligence agencies are tasked with the job of coming up with ways to mitigate that,” the Florida lawmaker said.

Considering that such special counsel investigations could take years, both Senators agree that they should take steps to force the Biden administration to comply with their demands so that they can get to work on evaluating the potential havoc the document mishandling poses to national security. The earlier they do their jobs, the better for the country.

“We’re going to figure out a way to make sure that we get that access so that we can not only tell the American people, but we’ve got another 85 U.S. senators who are not on the Intelligence Committee who look to us to get those assurances,” Warner said.

The measures Warner and Rubio are considering to gain access to the documents includes cutting funding to the ICT community.