Congressional ‘Gang of Eight’ gets access to Biden, Trump’s classified docs

The 118th Congress’ “Gang of Eight,” the top leaders in Congress, received access this week to the classified documents found at the homes and offices of former president Trump, current President Joe Biden, and former vice president Mike Pence in recent months.

The current Gang of Eight consists of Michael Turner (R), Jim Himes (D), Mark Warner (D):, Marco Rubio (R), Kevin McCarthy (R), Hakeem Jeffries (D), Chuck Schumer (D), and 

Mitch McConnell (R). The leaders were granted access to the documents at the center of Special Counsel investigations on Monday after a drawn out debate over whether the DoJ should turn over the sensitive documents during a Special Counsel probe.

The lawmakers wish to access the documents in order to ascertain the level of potential national security threats that could have occurred when the documents were improperly stored. They have argued that this falls under the responsibilities of Congressional oversight committees, including the Senate Intelligence Committee. The DoJ has wavered on the decision to provide the documents to Congressional leaders, citing complications to the Special Counsel’s investigation.

Federal agents recovered hundreds of classified documents at Trump’s residence at Mar-a-Lago in Florida in August last year when they raided the premises to find the subpoenaed documents. President Biden’s legal team then searched his offices and turned over some documents found at his office at the Biden Institute, and more at his Delaware home later. Former vice president Pence’s legal team also searched his home and offices in Indiana and turned over a handful of documents they found.