Intel head Turner demands DOJ, ODNI briefing into Biden's ‘mishandling’ of classified docs
Mike Turner demanded a briefing from Attorney General Merrick Garland and the Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}EXCLUSIVE: The incoming chair of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence has asked the Department of Justice and the government's top national security agency to provide information related to several batches of classified documents that have been found from President Biden's time as vice president.
The White House revealed this week that classified documents were discovered at the Washington, D.C., office for Biden's think tank, the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement, in early November. On Wednesday, news broke that another trove of classified documents from Biden's time as vice president had been discovered. It was revealed Thursday that the second batch of documents was found in the president's garage in Wilmington, Delaware.
Rep. Mike Turner, R-Ohio, wrote letters to Attorney General Merrick Garland and the Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines Thursday, demanding a briefing by Jan. 26 regarding the discovery of several batches of classified materials.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Rep. Mike Turner, R-Ohio, wrote letters to Attorney General Merrick Garland and the Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines Thursday. (Fox News)
"The presence of classified information at these separate locations could implicate the President in the mishandling, potential misuse, and exposure of classified information," Turner wrote in the letter first obtained by Fox News Digital.
BIDEN 'SURPRISED' TO LEARN OF CLASSIFIED DOCS AT PENN THINK TANK: 'I DON'T KNOW' WHAT'S IN THEM
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"It raises significant questions as to why then-Vice President Biden maintained custody of such highly classified documents, who had access to them, and for what purposes," he wrote. "The question of further dissemination of these documents, and potential use by those involved in the business of the unknown location and the Penn-Biden Center, or any other possible use, must be fully examined."
The White House revealed earlier this week that classified documents were discovered at the Washington, D.C., office for President Biden's think tank, the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement, in early November. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
Turner cited the important oversight responsibility that he holds as a member of Congress to ensure the executive branch is "accountable to the people."
"This includes the suppression of the fact that classified information was discovered at two separate locations and the apparent disparate treatment by Department of Justice," Turner stated in the letter to Garland.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Calls are growing for Garland to appoint a special counsel to investigate the president's handling of such documents.
The Department of Justice and Office of the Director of National Intelligence did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's requests for comment Thursday.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}On Wednesday, news broke that another trove of classified documents from Presidet Biden's time as vice president had been discovered at another location. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
While at the North American Leaders' Summit in Mexico City on Tuesday, Biden addressed the documents recovered from the Penn Biden Center.
"Let me get rid of the easy one first," Biden said. "People know I take classified documents and classified information seriously."
"They did what they should have done. They immediately called the [National Archives]… turned them over to the Archives, and I was briefed about this discovery and surprised to learn that there were any government records that were taken there to that office," Biden added. "But I don't know what's in the documents. My lawyers have not suggested I ask what documents they were."