Congress receives access to classified documents in Trump, Biden and Pence cases – live

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Donald Trump has for months appeared apoplectic about the investigation into his possession of classified documents, among other matters. That anger has lately resolved itself into a call, taken up by his supporters, to defund the FBI and justice department.

It’s an uncomfortable message for his fellow Republicans, who like to tell Americans that they’re the real tough-on-crime party. The Senate’s Democratic leader Chuck Schumer intends to take full advantage of that dynamic with a resolution he plans to introduce next week repudiating Trump’s call to defund federal law enforcement.

Here’s what he wrote in a letter to senators:

Donald Trump’s call for defunding federal law enforcement agencies is a baseless, self-serving broadside against the men and women who keep our nation safe. The good work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Justice sends criminals to prison for bank robbery, sex trafficking, child pornography, hate crimes, terrorism, fraud and so much more. The former president and his allies in Congress must not subjugate justice and public safety because of their own personal grievances.

Senators from across the political spectrum and of both political parties should denounce such attempts by the former president and his allies to degrade public trust in our federal law enforcement agencies. The Senate must recommit that the United States is a nation of laws. As free people, we rely on the necessary and professional work of our federal law enforcement agencies to promote the safety and general welfare of our country.

Three powerful men in trouble: the classified documents scandal, explained

If there’s one lesson to be drawn from the classified documents scandal that’s gripped Washington since last August, it’s this: people who work at the White House apparently like to hang on to government secrets.

Now, the three powerful men implicated here are in varying degrees of trouble, though with none of their cases resolved, we don’t know yet how severe the consequences could be.

Donald Trump appears to be in the greatest peril. He’s being investigated by special counsel Jack Smith over the secret materials the FBI found when they searched Mar-a-Lago last August – which only happened after the former president refused months of entreaties to hand over all the materials that he had. Smith is also looking into Trump’s involvement in the January 6 insurrection and the broader effort to overturn the 2020 election.

But it turns out Joe Biden had his own stash of classified documents. Unlike Trump, the president reportedly started handing them over to government secret keepers as soon as he became aware he had the materials – which date back to his time as a senator and vice-president – at his former office and residence, though the White House did keep quiet for months about the discoveries after they were first made around the time of last November’s midterm election. Attorney general Merrick Garland has appointed another special prosecutor, Robert Hur, to look into whether Biden broke the law here.

Trump’s former vice-president Mike Pence also kept classified documents at his home in Indiana, and has since turned them over to the powers that be. Garland has not appointed a special prosecutor to look into this.

Congressional leaders get to see Trump, Biden, Pence classified documents

Good morning, US politics blog readers. We’ve known for months that Donald Trump, Joe Biden and Mike Pence were holding on to classified documents they apparently should not have possessed – but what, exactly, did they have? The leaders of Congress are finding out, after the Democratic and Republican leaders in each chamber as well as the top lawmakers on the intelligence committees were given access to the material taken from three men, Punchbowl News reports. It remains to be seen if the lawmakers will keep quiet about what they saw, or air their views about the issue, which presents varying degrees of legal peril for the three men.

Here’s what else is happening today:

• Washington continues to reel from a major leak of US intelligence materials, and national security officials say they don’t know yet if the apparently purloined documents have been contained.

• Joe Biden is heading to Northern Ireland where he will, among other things, celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday peace agreement that mostly quelled decades of violence.

• White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre will brief reporters during Biden’s flight to Belfast.