DOJ tells Jim Jordan he can’t comply with request on Biden’s classified documents

The Justice Department on Monday denied a request by the House Judiciary Committee to turn over documents related to a special counsel’s investigation into President Joe Biden’s handling of classified documents.

In a letter to the committee’s chairman, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), the department said it could not turn over nonpublic files as part of its longstanding policy of not sharing information. likely to have an impact on an ongoing investigation.

“Disclosure to Congress of ongoing investigations risks compromising those investigations and creating the perception that Congress may exert inappropriate political pressure or attempt to influence Department decisions in some cases,” the letter said.

The department added that disclosure also carries other risks, including impairing prosecutors’ ability to interview relevant witnesses and bring charges.

But the committee doesn’t seem willing to accept the DOJ’s reasoning for not complying with its request.

“It’s concerning to say the least that the department is more interested in playing politics than cooperating,” said Russell Dye, a spokesman for Jordan, according to CNN.

The committee had asked the Justice Department to turn over all communications regarding the appointment of special counsel Robert Hur, as well as records related to the selection of John Lausch, whom Garland had originally requested to review the findings. They also requested communications between the DOJ, the FBI and the President’s Executive Office about Biden’s classified records, among others.

Earlier this month, Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Hur special counsel to review classified documents found in Biden’s home in Delaware and a former office in Washington.

Most of the documents recovered from Biden’s archives date back to his tenure as vice president under Barack Obama’s administration, while some date to his time in the Senate.

Biden maintained “there’s none there” on the documents and that he fully cooperated with the investigation.

Garland also ordered a special counsel investigation into classified documents found in the possession of former President Donald Trump, who compared FBI agents who searched his Mar-a-Lago estate to the secret police of Nazi Germany and even accused them of depositing the evidence found.

The FBI searched Trump’s residence in August after he failed to comply with a subpoena.

NBC’s Chuck Todd on Sunday accused Jordan of painting an inaccurate picture of how Biden and Trump handled the discovery of classified documents in their files during a Sunday interview on “Meet the Press.”

Jordan claimed the department was “armed” against Trump and also protested what he described as a double standard in the handling of the two men’s cases.

“Biden didn’t challenge a subpoena, congressman,” Todd said.