Tag: classified

FBI searches Pence’s home for classified materials

[ad_1]

The search, which was voluntarily arranged by Pence with the Justice Department, had been expected for weeks. A Justice Department official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, confirmed late Friday morning that the FBI was conducting a consent-based search. A Justice Department spokesperson did not immediately respond to queries from POLITICO on Friday about which DOJ prosecutors are overseeing the inquiry.
According to a person familiar with the events, who provided information on the condition of anonymity to reveal details of the procedure, a member of Pence’s legal team was present for the entirety of the search. The scope of the search included not only classified records but also documents that might be original copies of presidential records that should be returned to the National Archives, the person said.
Matters related to mishandling or disclosure of classified information are typically handled by Justice’s National Security Division, but Attorney General Merrick Garland farmed out inquiries into recent episodes involving President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump to special prosecutors.
Pence has been in California this week for the birth of his granddaughter.
In January, Pence’s lawyer, Greg Jacob, found a dozen classified documents in the home, a revelation he reported in a letter to the National Archives.
Asked by ABC News whether he had taken any classified documents to his home, he responded: “I did not.”
Pence has also received a subpoena from special counsel Jack Smith, who is investigating efforts by Donald Trump and his allies to subvert the 2020 election, according to two people familiar with the matter.
Pence was the target of Trump’s last-ditch bid to derail the transfer of power to Joe Biden, leaning on his then-vice president to prevent Congress from counting electoral votes that would affirm Biden’s victory.

The subpoena has the potential to trigger an executive privilege fight if Trump or Pence ask a judge to rule that some or all of their testimony should be off limits to prosecutors and the grand jury in order to protect White House deliberations.
Two of Pence’s top aides — Marc Short and Greg Jacob — have already testified to the grand jury and are the subject of ongoing secret legal proceedings pending before the federal courts related to Trump’s effort to assert privilege over their testimony.
Josh Gerstein contributed to this report.
[ad_2]
#FBI #searches #Pences #home #classified #materials
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

February 10, 2023
Ukraine can’t retake Crimea soon, Pentagon tells lawmakers in classified briefing

[ad_1]

The briefers included Laura Cooper, deputy assistant secretary of defense for Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia, and Lt. Gen. Douglas Sims, director of operations on the Joint Staff.
“We’re not going to comment on closed-door classified briefings nor will we talk about hypotheticals or speculate on potential future operations,” Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh said. “In terms of Ukraine’s ability to fight and take back sovereign territory, their remarkable performance in repulsing Russian aggression and continued adaptability on the battlefield speaks for itself.”
A House Armed Services spokesperson declined to comment.
The assessment from the briefers echoes what Gen. Mark Milley, the Joint Chiefs chair, has alluded to in recent weeks.
“I still maintain that for this year it would be very, very difficult to militarily eject the Russian forces from all –– every inch of Ukraine and occupied –– or Russian-occupied Ukraine,” he said during a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group in Germany on Jan. 20. “That doesn’t mean it can’t happen. Doesn’t mean it won’t happen, but it’d be very, very difficult.”
Russian forces have occupied Crimea since 2014, and the peninsula is bristling with air defenses and tens of thousands of troops. Many of those infantry forces are dug into fortified positions stretching hundreds of miles facing off against Ukrainian troops along the Dnipro River.
The issue of retaking Crimea has been a contentious one for months, as American and European officials insist the peninsula is legally part of Ukraine, while often stopping short of fully equipping Kyiv to push into the area.
One person familiar with the thinking in Kyiv said the Zelenskyy administration was “furious” with Milley’s remarks, as Ukraine prepares for major offensives this spring. Ukrainians also note that U.S. intelligence about their military abilities have consistently missed the mark throughout the nearly year-long war.

Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos last month, Zelenskyy adviser Andriy Yermak rejected the idea of a Ukrainian victory without taking Crimea.
“This is absolutely unacceptable,” Yermak said, adding that victory means restoring Ukraine’s internationally recognized borders “including Donbas and Crimea.”
Ukraine has repeatedly asked for longer-range weapons, including rocket artillery and guided munitions fired by fighter planes and drones, to target Russian command-and-control centers and ammunition depots far behind the front lines in Crimea.
After the U.S. gave Ukraine the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System in the summer, Russia moved many of its most vulnerable assets out of its 50-mile range. The Biden administration continues to refuse to send missiles for the launcher that can reach 300 miles, which would put all of Crimea at risk.
House Armed Services Chair Mike Rogers (R-Ala.) said in an interview Wednesday that the war “needs to end this summer,” placing urgency on the U.S. to rapidly supply Ukraine for a coming offensive and on Kyiv to forge a clearer outline of how the conflict ends.
“There’s a school of thought … that Crimea’s got to be a part of it. Russia is never going to quit and give up Crimea,” said Rogers, who did not address the contents of the classified briefing his committee received last week. Vladimir “Putin has got to decide what he can leave with and claim victory.”
“What is doable? And I don’t think that that’s agreed upon yet. So I think that there’s going to have to be some pressure from our government and NATO leaders with [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelenskyy about what does victory look like,” Rogers added. “And I think that’s going to help us more than anything be able to drive Putin and Zelenskyy to the table to end this thing this summer.”
[ad_2]
#Ukraine #retake #Crimea #Pentagon #tells #lawmakers #classified #briefing
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

February 2, 2023
Cotton vows to block Biden nominees over classified documents flap

[ad_1]

Cotton’s stance threatens to shut down an already slow-moving Senate. The chamber has taken just one roll-call vote since being sworn in on Jan. 3: confirming an assistant defense secretary on Monday. The chamber will take its second floor vote on Thursday to dub January National Stalking Awareness Month.
Otherwise, the chamber has been in a deep freeze, with no votes on Tuesday or Wednesday and continued haggling over committee assignments. If Cotton follows through on his objection, it will mean Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has to burn multiple days of valuable floor time to set up nominee votes.
Classified documents have recently been found at the homes of both Biden and former Vice President Mike Pence and promptly turned over to the National Archives. Additionally, Trump’s residence at Mar-a-Lago was searched by the FBI last summer after he refused the Archives’ attempts to recover troves of classified records. Cotton said the administration would need to provide Congress with all the material seized from Biden, Trump and Pence to satisfy the Arkansas senator.
“Congress has an absolute right to every single document or item or photo or box or picture or map that was at President Trump’s residence, President Biden’s residence and office, and for that matter, President Pence’s residence as well,” Cotton said. “I still have no clue what was in these documents. I’m not aware of any member of Congress that has any clue.”
With agreement from all 100 senators, nominees can move immediately, although many nominees must go through a more laborious process. Nominees can be confirmed with simple majority votes, though any senator can still filibuster a nominee to delay their confirmation.
“I’m sorry to see him try to find a way to obstruct the Senate. I’m hoping we can find a bipartisan way to get this done,” said Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.). “The special counsel is investigating.”
The special counsel probes into Biden’s and Trump’s handling of classified documents could complicate congressional oversight efforts. Administrations have historically been reluctant to share information with Congress that’s relevant to ongoing investigations, an issue that flared up during the probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
But senators noted that a precedent was established during the Russia investigation permitting lawmakers to receive preliminary briefings and the administration found ways to resolve inter-branch conflicts.

Cotton has used this strategy in the past, holding up U.S. attorney nominees during the last Congress in protest against the Justice Department’s treatment of marshals who defended a courthouse in Portland, Ore., during Black Lives Matter demonstrations. But he also isn’t the only senator frustrated about the lack of detail provided by the intelligence chief.
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) called the briefing “very unsatisfying … to say that they’re not going to share anything with us as long as the special counsel doesn’t allow them to share it with us? That’s an untenable position.”
Cotton also alluded to Democratic unease over the administration’s stance. And Senate Intelligence Chair Mark Warner (D-Va.) said that “the answers we received on that issue didn’t meet the mark, and I’ll have more to say later.”
“I’m very disappointed with the lack of detail and a timeline on when we’re going to get a briefing,” Warner added. “We’re left in limbo until, somehow, a special counsel designates it’s OK for us to be briefed. And that’s not going to stand, and all things will be on the table to try to make sure that doesn’t happen.”
He declined to comment on Cotton’s threat.
[ad_2]
#Cotton #vows #block #Biden #nominees #classified #documents #flap
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

January 26, 2023
Mike Pence had classified documents at home, turned them over

[ad_1]

DOJ’s effort to obtain the documents came days after Pence notified the National Archives that he had discovered them at his residence on Jan. 16. Jacob indicated Pence was unaware of the existence of the documents and had enlisted an outside counsel after press reports of the discovery of documents at President Joe Biden’s own personal residence.
The sensitivity of the newly discovered documents is unclear. In his first letter to the Archives, Jacob indicated that Pence’s counsel did not review them “once an indicator of potential classification was identified.”
Pence’s revelation threatens to upend the political landscape on both sides of Pennsylvania Avenue. The Biden White House has similarly turned over classified documents to the National Archives that were found in the president’s personal home and an office he used following his stint as vice president. But it has endured withering criticism, including from fellow Democrats, over the existence of those items. And House Republicans have already begun the process of investigating why classified items were discovered in both Wilmington, Del., and the Penn-Biden Center in Washington, D.C.
Revelations that such mistakes are widespread provided Democrats with a sense of inoculation. It also gave them a talking point to contrast Biden’s situation with that of Donald Trump’s, who also had classified documents on his personal property but refused to turn all them over when asked.
“This discovery by Pence’s attorney is a very interesting reinforcement of the contrast between how Biden & Pence are properly cooperating and returning documents versus Trump stealing them, hiding them, and obstructing justice into their return,” said David Brock, president of the Biden-allied group Facts First USA.
The chair of the House Oversight Committee, Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), showed no immediate indication that he would back off his investigations in the aftermath of the Pence revelations.
“Former Vice President Mike Pence reached out today about classified documents found at his home in Indiana,” Comer said. “He has agreed to fully cooperate with congressional oversight and any questions we have about the matter. Former Vice President Pence’s transparency stands in stark contrast to Biden White House staff who continue to withhold information from Congress and the American people.”
The Biden White House declined to discuss the matter citing a policy of not commenting on ongoing investigations. And Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio), the chair of the House Intelligence Committee, said he planned to “ask for the same intelligence review and damage assessment” that he had requested regarding Biden, “to see if there are any national security concerns.”

The discovery by Pence nevertheless underscores the haphazard process taken by senior officials in departing presidential administrations. And it left other lawmakers on the Hill befuddled.
“I would have thought over a year ago that the beginnings of this conversation between the archives and President Trump, that anyone who served in any of these roles as president and vice president that are still living would say: Go check your closets,” said Senate Intel Chair Mark Warner (D-Va.).
A request for comment made to Pence’s aides was not returned. Pence had previously said that he had not brought classified documents home with him after leaving the vice presidency.
In the Jan. 22 letter to the Archives, Jacob indicated that before DOJ intervened, Pence had been prepared to return four boxes of materials to the Archives for review. He noted that some of the records, while not classified, were likely to include “courtesy copies” of White House records from his tenure in office.
“I expressed to you my expectation that the substantial majority of the documents in the four boxes would, upon examination, be found to be personal copies of other records that were previously transmitted to the Archives,” Jacob noted.
Jacob indicated he intended to transport the boxes, absent the classified records recovered by DOJ, to the Archives on Jan. 23
“The boxes were sealed at the Vice President’s residence in Indiana, following a final review by the Vice President’s personal attorney during which attorney-client privileged materials related to personal capacity attorneys, and Article I legislative branch materials, were placed in sealed and clearly labeled envelopes,” he wrote.
“All of the documents within the boxes, and within the sealed envelopes, remain in the exact place and order in which they were discovered on January 16. The Vice President is not waiving any privileges pertaining to the clearly labeled materials.”
Jordain Carney and Burgess Everett contributed reporting.
[ad_2]
#Mike #Pence #classified #documents #home #turned
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

January 24, 2023
Garland defends handling of Biden, Trump classified document probes

[ad_1]

Earlier this month, Garland appointed a special counsel to determine whether laws were broken in connection with the presence of the apparently-classified records at the Penn Biden Center in Washington and later at Biden’s Delaware home.
Asked if he had any regrets about the way the matters had been handled thus far, Garland called the law enforcement decisions “appropriate” and unaffected by politics.
“That is what we’ve done and that is what we will continue to do,” Garland said, flanked by a Justice Department task force handling fallout from the Supreme Court’s decision in June to overturn the federal constitutional right to abortion.
While Garland said Monday that the Justice Department has pursued the Trump- and Biden-related cases “without regard to who the subjects are,” there remain special protections for a sitting president under longstanding Justice Department legal opinions. Those opinions preclude criminal charges against a president while he remains in office, but they do not rule out the possibility of such charges once a president leaves office.
[ad_2]
#Garland #defends #handling #Biden #Trump #classified #document #probes
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

January 24, 2023
FBI searches Joe Biden’s Wilmington home, finds more classified materials

[ad_1]
Washington: FBI investigators have found additional classified documents from US President Joe Biden’s residence in Wilmington after conducting a 13-hour search of the home, intensifying the probe into discoveries that could become a political and possible legal liability for him as he prepares to launch a reelection bid in 2024.
Bob Bauer, the President’s personal attorney, said in a statement that during the search on Friday, “Department of Justice took possession of materials it deemed within the scope of its inquiry, including six items consisting of documents with classification markings and surrounding materials, some of which were from the President’s service in the Senate and some of which were from his tenure as vice president.
“DOJ also took for further review personally handwritten notes from the vice-presidential years,” he said.
The total number of classified documents found in the residences and private offices of Biden has now increased to nearly a dozen and a half. All documents, including from his term as vice president from 2009 to 2016, have now been taken into possession of federal agents.
“DOJ requested that the search not be made public in advance, in accordance with its standard procedures, and we agreed to cooperate,” Bauer said.
Biden is spending time at his Wilmington, Delaware residence this weekend.
“DOJ had full access to the President’s home, including personally handwritten notes, files, papers, binders, memorabilia, to-do lists, schedules, and reminders going back decades,” Bauer said.
Last week, US Attorney General Merrick B Garland appointed a special counsel Robert Hur to investigate the discovery of the classified documents at the private offices and residence of the President.

Richard Sauber, Special Counsel to the President, said that Biden directed his personal lawyers to be fully cooperative with the Justice Department as part of its ongoing investigation. That has been the case since a small number of materials were initially discovered at the Penn Biden Center, he said.
The President and his team are working swiftly to ensure the DOJ and the Special Counsel have what they need to conduct a thorough review, he said.
“Neither the President nor the First Lady were present during the search. The President’s lawyers and White House Counsel’s Office will continue to cooperate with the DOJ and the Special Counsel to help ensure this process is conducted swiftly and efficiently,” Sauber said.
The federal search of Biden’s home, while voluntary, marks an escalation of the probe into the President’s handling of classified documents and will inevitably draw comparisons to his predecessor, former president Donald Trump- even if the FBI’s search of Trump’s residence was conducted under different circumstances, CNN said.
Trump also faces a probe over his alleged mishandling of hundreds of classified documents at his Florida Mar-a-Lago residence and his alleged failure to comply with a subpoena.
The lengthy search and subsequent discovery of more documents is a political headache and a possible legal liability for Biden, as he prepares to declare whether he will run for a second term.
Biden, 80, already America’s oldest sitting president, in November said he intends to run again for the presidency in 2024.
Biden said he was “surprised” to learn of the discovery of the records. He had branded his predecessor Trump, “irresponsible” for storing classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.
President Biden told reporters in California on Thursday that he “has no regrets” on the handling of documents marked classified.
When asked why the White House didn’t disclose the existence of the documents in November before the midterm elections, he told reporters he thinks they’re going to find out “there’s no there there.” A first batch of classified documents had been found on November 2 at the Penn Biden Center, a think-tank Biden founded in Washington DC.
A second batch of records was found on December 20 in the garage at his Wilmington home, while another document was found in a storage space at the house on January 12.
After finding the documents, Biden said his team immediately turned them over to the National Archives and the Justice Department.
Under the Presidential Records Act, White House records are supposed to go to the National Archives once an administration ends, where they can be stored securely.
The Republican Party was quick to slam Biden after the new discovery.
“This says some of the docs are from his Senate service. Serious Q: how on earth did he do that? I’ve served in the Senate for 10 years. Every single classified doc I’ve read—100%—has been in a secure SCIF (sensitive compartmented information facility) in the basement of the Capitol. What the hell??” Senator Ted Cruz said.
“Even more highly classified documents were found in Biden’s home!! How are they just now discovering these? This is getting out of hand. As Vice President, Biden had NO RIGHT to possess these. This scandal is getting bigger every single day!!” Congressman Ronny Jackson said.
“After all the misleading, downplaying statements made by the WH (White House), it’s time for the FBI to seal the crime scene, bar anyone from the WH, including POTUS (President of the United States) and his lawyers, from entering and conducting the search themselves. No more special treatment,” former White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer said.
Emboldened by a new majority and armed with subpoena power, House Republicans were already gearing up for a series of investigations into the Biden family’s finances and Biden’s son Hunter.
The discovery of the classified documents opens up a new line of inquiry.
“I think Congress has to investigate this,” House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said Thursday.
[ad_2]
#FBI #searches #Joe #Bidens #Wilmington #home #finds #classified #materials
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

January 22, 2023
Biden, Trump and the classified documents – podcast

[ad_1]
American presidents face many era-defining challenges: wars, pandemics, recessions. But one that gets less attention seems to keep haunting them: paperwork.
Last November, at Joe Biden’s thinktank in Washington DC, aides to the US president were packing up and they found something that shouldn’t have been there: a stash of classified documents.
As David Smith tells Michael Safi, that was not the end of the matter. A further search of Biden’s property turned up more secret documents that needed to be handed over to the national archives. It’s left Biden with a legal headache, but perhaps more pressing: a political one.
The revelations have been leapt upon by supporters of Donald Trump who wasted no time in calling for Biden to face the same scrutiny as the former president who saw his own home raided by the FBI after ignoring demands to hand over documents he had taken without authorisation.

Photograph: Jonathan Ernst/Reuters
Support The Guardian
The Guardian is editorially independent.
And we want to keep our journalism open and accessible to all.
But we increasingly need our readers to fund our work.
Support The Guardian

[ad_2]
#Biden #Trump #classified #documents #podcast
( With inputs from : www.theguardian.com )

January 20, 2023