A bipartisan group of top lawmakers are reportedly meeting Tuesday to discuss the classified documents of former President Donald Trump, President Joe Biden and former Vice President Mike Pence.
The eight lawmakers — called the “Gang of Eight” — will receive their first briefing on the classified documents by administration officials, NBC reported, citing two sources familiar.
The “Gang of Eight” includes Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer; Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell; House Speaker Kevin McCarthy; House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries; Republican Ohio Rep. Michael Turner; Democratic Connecticut Rep. Jim Himes; Democratic Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, and Republican Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, NBC reported.
The group has been calling for a briefing since the FBI raided Mar-a-Lago in August and retrieved over 100 documents with classification markings. Their calls grew louder upon the January news that Biden’s lawyer found classified documents at the Penn Biden Center, where Biden held an office.
Biden’s lawyers found additional documents in his Delaware residences on Dec. 20, Jan. 11 and Jan. 12.
The Department of Justice then searched Biden’s residence in Wilmington, Delaware, on Jan. 20, taking “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,” Biden’s lawyer Bob Bauer said. (RELATED: REPORT: FBI Searched For Biden Classified Documents At University Of Delaware)
The DOJ also conducted a search of Biden’s Rehoboth, Delaware, home on Feb. 1, but found no classified documents.
WASHINGTON, DC – FEBRUARY 27: U.S. President Joe Biden returns to the White House February 27, 2023 in Washington, DC. Biden spent the weekend in Wilmington, Delaware. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)
After reports broke about Biden’s documents, Pence “engaged outside counsel” to look for classified documents in his Indiana home, a letter sent by Pence’s team to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) read.
Pence’s team found classified documents in his home in January and contacted NARA on Jan. 18, requesting assistance to collect a “small number of classified documents bearing classification markings.”
FBI agents collected the documents on Jan. 19. Pence has consented to the FBI agents collecting the documents while he was out of the house, but his team said the action “bypassed standard procedure.”
The DOJ then conducted a consensual search of Pence’s property on Feb. 10, and recovered “one document with classified markings” and six additional pages with no classified markings.