The Senate is back and they've got a lot of questions about Trump's documents and national security
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Senate returned to Washington, D.C., this week after the August Recess and they've got a lot of questions they want answers to about the former president's alleged retention of classified documents, particularly those that could endanger national security.
Speaking to reporters Tuesday night, Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) reinforced his concerns about the damage that has been done and ensuring that the military and intelligence community can meet with officials to give details about it. When asked if he wanted to see the documents, Warner said that he was less concerned about seeing them than he was about their impact on national security.
"I'm concerned about the damage that can be done if top secret documents could potentially be exposed to people who are not read-in," Warner told Raw Story about Donald Trump.
An aide noted the so-called "Gang of Eight," the leaders among the House and Senate with the highest security levels, are likely to be the only ones to review the situation. She explained that if the full Senate committee were to be briefed, then the full House Intelligence Committee would also have to be briefed, and they've indicated that they can't keep information secure.
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Sen.Chris Murphy (D-CT) told Raw Story, "any time the leader of the cult is in peril the followers are going to respond. I think we'll learn how serious this is as time goes on, but there's obviously the cavalier nature in which Trump was treating these documents is pretty worrying."
Republican Whip Sen. John Cornyn (TX) said that he agreed and signed on to the letter from the Senate Intelligence Committee asking for a briefing on the matter. Included in those requesting the information was the vice chair Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), who indicated this week that he didn't understand why the documents were such a big deal. He went on to call it nothing more than a "storage issue."
He noted that he doesn't expect anything to happen in the "near term," but indicated he wants to know the details about the matter.
It's unclear when the Senate could get a briefing on the matter because Judge Aileen Cannon has demanded that a special master review the documents. Cannon's ruling to temporarily keep the documents away from the executive branch means that the Director of National Intelligence might not be able to do a threat assessment or brief the "Gang of Eight."