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On Tuesday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “Your World,” Rep. John Garamendi (D-CA) stated that members of Congress need to be able to see the classified documents that former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden had and “frustrating” issues involving the Justice Department refusing to divulge information has been going on for a while.
Garamendi said that he suspects that the refusal to let the Senate view the documents is the work of the Department of Justice, not the National Archives. He added, “Specifically, the Justice Department has two investigations underway, the Trump investigation and the Biden investigation…they’re very reluctant in that process to share with the Congress — this is not new. This has been going on, I guess, forever — until that investigation either proves that there was or was not a criminal act. So I would not expect –.”
Host Neil Cavuto then cut in to ask, “But isn’t that a committee’s right, whether it’s in the Senate, sir, or in the House, these two, that they have to sort of take a back seat to whatever decision Justice will make? Obviously, Sen. Warner (D-VA) wasn’t having it. Sen. Wyden (D-OR) wasn’t having it. A host of other key players, from Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), to scores of Republicans weren’t having it. Do you think that this setup where we get information at the Justice Department’s discretion is sound? A lot of your colleagues don’t think it is.”
Garamendi answered, “Well, first of all, it certainly is frustrating and it’s not new. In the years I’ve been here — which is not nearly as many as the Senators of whom you’re talking about — this is an ongoing issue between the Justice Department involved in an investigation that may very well be a criminal investigation at some –.”
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Cavuto then cut in to ask, “No, I understand that. On any level does it bother you, sir, is what I’m asking?”
Garamendi responded, “Well, of course, it’s frustrating in that we’re looking at the oversight issues. I think with regard to the Senate, what they would like to have is the specific classified documents so that they can then understand the risk to our national security. I would think that there’s a way in which the Justice Department could make those specific documents available in a classified setting to the Senate committee and to the House committees as to exactly what was at risk here, and we do need to know that. So, I think there’s a path forward, and all of the back and forth that’s going on is not helpful in resolving what should be, in my view, a solution.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
