Schiff says it’s possible national security was jeopardized with Biden documents

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) said Congress could not “exclude the possibility” that national security was jeopardized by the handling of President Biden’s classified documents, which are now at the center of a Department of Justice probe.

“I don’t think we can exclude the possibility without knowing more of the facts,” Schiff said on ABC’s “This Week” in an interview with Jonathan Karl. “I’d like to know what these documents were, I’d like to know what the [special counsel’s] assessment is.”

The discovery of Biden’s classified documents in unauthorized locations has placed Democrats in the middle of a political conundrum. They have for months blasted former President Trump for his handling of classified documents, which resulted in the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago.

Schiff on Sunday said he thinks the appointment of a special counsel to investigate the Biden documents was the right move.

“The attorney general has to make sure that not only is justice evenly applied, but the appearances of justice are also satisfactory to the public,” Schiff said. “And here, I don’t think he had any choice but to appoint a special counsel.”

Attorney General Merrick Garland announced last week that Robert Hur, a former U.S. attorney, would serve as the special counsel investigating the Biden documents.

But Schiff, like many Democrats, made sure to distinguish between Trump and Biden’s handling of documents, emphasizing that it appears the president has fully cooperated with law enforcement.

“The Biden approach was very different in the sense that it looks that it was inadvertent that these documents were at these locations,” Schiff said. “There was no effort to hold onto them, no effort to conceal them, no effort to obstruct the Justice Department’s investigation.”