Cotton looks to block nominations amid frustration with classified documents

He threatens to slow Senate over Biden, Trump probes

In this file photo Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., questions then-Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson during her Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, March 22, 2022. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)
In this file photo Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., questions then-Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson during her Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, March 22, 2022. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

WASHINGTON -- U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton said he wants the Biden administration to provide lawmakers with classified documents discovered at the residences of President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump, and he is willing to "impose pain on the administration" until Congress receives those papers.

Cotton's threat comes after a Senate Intelligence Committee briefing with Biden administration officials on Wednesday, in which Cotton and other senators left feeling the administration is stonewalling lawmakers by refusing to provide details about these documents.

"The members of the Intelligence Committee -- for that matter, the members of Congress -- have an absolute right to this information so we can make an informed judgment about the risk, if any, these documents have posed to our national security by being improperly handled," the Little Rock Republican told reporters.

Two special counsels are overseeing investigations involving Biden and Trump. Attorney General Merrick Garland named Jack Smith -- the former chief prosecutor for war crimes in The Hague -- as special counsel in November regarding investigations related to Trump. The inquiries involve efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election and the discovery of classified records at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.

Garland selected Robert Hur -- a former U.S. attorney in Maryland who served during the Trump administration -- earlier this month to lead the investigation concerning Biden. The inquiry stems from the discovery of documents at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement and the president's private Delaware home.

Officials told senators that lawmakers cannot access these documents amid the ongoing special counsel investigations, triggering frustration from committee members.

"We're not asking who had it or how they moved it, or who did what or what was where," Senate Intelligence Vice Chairman Marco Rubio, R-Fla., told reporters.

"We simply want to know what was this information, what was these materials that they had, so that we can make an honest assessment when they provide us with a risk assessment of whether or not they've taken the proper mitigation if any was necessary."

Committee Chairman Mark Warner, D-Va., said senators need access to the documents to understand if the removal endangered national intelligence.

"Our goal is to make sure that we can make that intelligence assessment of whether our nation's security's been compromised," he added.

There is a precedent for lawmakers seeing classified information amid ongoing investigations. Cotton mentioned he and other lawmakers could review documents related to the 2016 presidential election amid special counsel Robert Mueller's inquiry involving claims of Russian interference.

"No one in Congress has received these documents," Cotton mentioned about the current investigations.

As officials prevent congressional access, Cotton said he is prepared to block nominees and take committee actions to slow Senate proceedings until the Biden administration grants access.

"Whether it is blocking nominees or withholding budgetary funds, Congress will impose pain on the administration until they provide these documents," he added. "And that is coming from both parties."

The Senate can consider and approve nominations through unanimous consent, allowing senators to bypass the chamber's rules and expedite proceedings. It takes one senator to object to unanimous consent for the request to fail.

Arkansas' junior senator followed through on a similar threat to the nomination process during the last Congress. Cotton halted efforts to expedite the confirmation of Justice Department nominees, pushing the agency to provide legal representation to deputy marshals sued for their actions during the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests in Portland, Ore.

Cotton emphasized Wednesday the Senate should not fast-track nominations for any agency until officials permit access to the documents. He added he does not think he would be the only senator willing to act.

"I think there would be plenty of people," he told reporters.

The briefing and questions also followed the discovery of classified documents at former Vice President Mike Pence's home in Indiana. Pence's attorneys have said the papers were taken to the residence at the end of the Trump administration.

Cotton said lawmakers should have access to the Pence documents as well. There is no push, according to Cotton, to conduct a congressional investigation as the special counsels continue their work.

"We have a legitimate, constitutional oversight role to decide what, if any, damage may have occurred, and it is unacceptable for the administration to simply stonewall both the House and the Senate -- Democratic and Republican members alike -- who are insisting that we perform that responsibility," he said.

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence told lawmakers last August there would be a "classification review of relevant materials" recovered during the search of Mar-a-Lago.

Five months later with no documents for lawmakers to review, Cotton said there is no doubt congressional members are capable of reviewing the documents involving the previous and current presidential administrations.

"My assumption is that we're not talking about millions and millions of documents here," Cotton said.


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