Mark Warner: Biden admin's lack of transparency over classified docs is 'outrageous'
Top Senate Democrat Mark Warner gave a blistering response to a question about the Biden administration's lack of transparency over classified documents found in the president's possession.
Senator Mark Warner, D-Va., gave a blistering response to one liberal news channel about President Biden's lack of transparency over his mishandling of classified documents.
"This is where the Biden administration gets an absolute failing grade," Warner told MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell on Wednesday. "Their position is outrageous," he added.
The Senate Intelligence Committee Chair admitted he and his colleagues still had not been given access to the documents from the Biden administration. He contrasted the stonewalling with former Vice President Mike Pence's openness with the committee looking at the classified documents found in his Indiana residence.
"He trusts us to look at those documents," the Democrat said of Pence.
WHAT WE KNOW SO FAR: TIMELINE OF BIDEN'S CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS DEBACLE
Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., gave a fiery response to MSNBC about the Biden administrations lack of transparency over discovered classified documents. (MSNBC/YouTube/Screenshot)
But he described his frustration over getting the run around from the Biden administration.
The Justice Department and Attorney General Merrick Garland had continued to shift blame over who was blocking access to the documents, he said.
As head of the intelligence committee, Warner stated it was his "constitutional responsibility" to have oversight over the classified documents and judge whether the intelligence community handled them appropriately. The frustrated Democrat said he was "done" with trying to play nice.
"I'm done with the lack of willingness for the administration to address this," he said, saying that he and Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., had asked for the documents back in September.
"We've seen squat…I'm not a guy that comes on TV and makes threats, but I'm joining with my Republican colleagues and my colleagues, Democrat and Republican, in the House. This position cannot stand," he said.
WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 17: U.S. President Joe Biden speaks with reporters before departing from the South Lawn of the White House on Marine One on March 17, 2023 in Washington, DC. President Biden is spending the weekend in Wilmington, Delaware. ((Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images))
Last November, classified documents from the Obama administration were discovered at Biden's former office space in Washington. Additional documents were found in the president's private home in Delaware in December and January.
Even President Trump's administration during the Russia investigation had been more transparent, Warner said.
"The fact that this administration is not even meeting the transparency standards of Donald Trump…" he said to Mitchell in exasperation.
Warner said he was ready to use "other tools" to get the White House to share the documents with his committee such as putting limitations on the intelligence community and Justice Department going forward.
"[T]heir dragging their feet is outrageous. We got a job to do. And if we can't get it through a negotiation process with them, we will use other tools," he said.
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