Classified materials reportedly collected from the residences of Donald Trump, Joe Biden, and Mike Pence have been made available to the congressional "Gang of Eight," according to sources with knowledge of the situation.
The decision was made after months of lobbying by Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Mark Warner and Vice Chair Marco Rubio, who had both publicly criticized the administration for withholding the confidential materials, according to a report from Punchbowl.
The disclosure of confidential documents represents the conclusion of more than two months of discussions between the leaders of the Senate Intelligence Committee and the US Justice Department, per CBS News.
In August, when the FBI carried out a search warrant at the Mar-a-Lago home of former US President Donald Trump and discovered more than 100 papers with secret markings, the senators asked for "immediate" access to the data.
In January, the senators reiterated their request for a briefing after US President Joe Biden's attorney disclosed the finding of secret records from the Obama administration in a presidential office following his vice-presidential term. Later, more confidential documents were discovered at the Delaware residence of Joe Biden, NBC News reported.
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DOJ Delayed Disclosure of Biden, Trump Confidential Docs
The current Special Counsel investigations were previously cited as the justification by Justice Department officials for delaying the disclosure of the sensitive information. As a result, Attorney General Merrick Garland has given Jack Smith and Robert Hur the task of looking into how Donald Trump and Joe Biden handled confidential materials.
The Justice Department chose not to respond to a request for comment.
At the time a president leaves office, all presidential records are expected to be turned over to the National Archives and Records Administration.
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