‘Congress has to investigate’ Biden documents matter, McCarthy says
Written by ABC AUDIO ALL RIGHTS RESERVED on January 12, 2023
(WASHINGTON) — House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Thursday continued to say that Congress has an obligation to investigate President Joe Biden’s handling of classified documents and attempted to compare Biden’s handling of classified documents to former President Donald Trump’s.
Referring to the new “weaponization of the federal government” subcommittee, McCarthy said, “I see it could go from that committee or others, but I think Congress has to investigate this.”
McCarthy said he didn’t see the difference between the two situations, despite Trump’s months of stonewalling investigators efforts to retrieve them.
“From one standpoint they knew the documents were there — they actually asked President Trump to put another lock on it, so they were locked,” McCarthy said, adding that Biden “utilized the Justice Department to raid President Trump.”
Asked why it isn’t a priority to investigate Trump’s handling of classified documents — given he says it’s a priority to investigate Biden’s handling of classified documents — McCarthy dodged and continued to focus on the “raid” of Mar-a-Lago and the manner in which Trump’s home was searched.
“We don’t think there needs to be a special prosecutor, but I think Congress has a role,” McCarthy said.
On embattled Republican Rep. George Santos, McCarthy continued to downplay his lies, telling reporters that “the voters of his district elected him to serve.”
McCarthy mentioned how the matter has gone to the Ethics Committee and said he would be “held accountable” if anything is found. Because the Ethics Committee is evenly split, it’s not likely it will go anywhere anytime soon.
McCarthy emphasized that Santos won’t have access to classified information.
“He’s got a long way to go to earn trust,” McCarthy said. “He will be held accountable, exactly as anyone else in this body would.”
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