(FreedomBeacon.com)- House Republicans are overseeing an investigation into Biden’s classified documents as the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee already reportedly requested that the intelligence community conduct a “damage assessment” of the situation.
Classified documents that belonged to President Biden when he was the then-vice president under Barack Obama were found in his private office at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement, according to American Pigeon. Shortly after the news broke, additional documents were found at another location.
Rep. Mike Turner sent the request for an assessment to Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines, writing that the president’s actions were a “potential violation of laws protecting national security, including the Espionage Act and Presidential Records Act.” Haines had previously agreed to conduct a “risk assessment,” not a “damage assessment” of the Trump case.
https://twitter.com/AmericanPigeon/status/1613337523123544066?s=20&t=zmL-VUZzEOh55uWAmgtRaw
The news came across as ironic given the president’s criticism of former President Trump for retaining classified documents of his own. President Biden called Trump’s handling of the documents, which were found in his home in Mar-a-Lago, “irresponsible.”
As controversy boils over whether or not the two situations are different, the Democratic chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Sen. Mark Werner, is calling for a briefing on the discovered documents. He stated that classification exists to ensure that national security secrets are kept protected.
“We expect to be briefed on what happened both at Mar-a-Lago and at the Biden office as part of our constitutional oversight obligations,” he said, adding that there seems to be a difference between the two situations. He pointed to the fact that Biden turned over the documents when they were found but alleged that Trump actively sought to keep them.
When the documents were found in November, attorneys contacted the White House Counsel’s office, which in turn notified the National Archives and Records Administration. U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois John Lausch was asked by Attorney General Merrick Garland to review the matter.
Lausch is reportedly one of the few Trump appointees held over from the trump administration.
