New this morning, we have
some reporting out of Washington, D.C.
The Justice Department
wants answers
about a confusing chain of events
that delayed the discovery
of a box of classified documents at Mar
a Lago.
Sources say
the contents were copied,
emailed, moved to an offsite location
before returning to the former
president's office.
Former President Trump, I'm
talking about exactly where
the FBI had searched just weeks earlier.
Explanation for all of this now.
CNN's Paula Reid
live on Capitol Hill with more.
Good morning to you.
So what is this
what what's going on here?
Well, Don,
the special counsel
investigators,
they want to know why
classified documents
keep showing up at Mar
a Lago as recently as December
that's nearly two years
after Trump left office.
And the big question
for the special counsel
is whether this is just
the result of carelessness
or if this is part
of some sort of intentional effort
to obstruct their investigation.
We've learned
from our reporting
that they were specifically
interested in a box
that was uncovered by Trump
lawyers in December.
This box contained
what was described to us
as a handful of classified documents.
But complicating matters
is the fact that back in 20, 21,
a young staffer was instructed
to scan the contents of this box,
just scan it with her phone
and put those documents on a laptop.
Now, we've learned that after
she scanned them,
this box was sent
to an offsite storage space
and only recently returned to Mar
a Lago,
where it was uncovered in December
in a momento closet
where the former president
keeps challenge coins and other mementos.
Now, federal investigators
now have the laptop.
They have the box of documents,
they have a thumb drive.
And we've learned that in recent weeks.
They also sat down with a staffer
to ask what exactly happened here?
How did she come into possession
of these classified documents?
Because they want to know why
this box was not given
to the Justice Department,
how it conveniently eluded
a federal searches of that property
and whether the former president
had any knowledge
or anything to do with this.
There's a really interesting development,
and that is,
you know,
renowned conservative judge
Michael Luttig
is slamming Mike Pence
for not only defying the special counsel
Jack Smith subpoena,
but also calling it unconstitutional
and unprecedented.
Well, how can you
how significant
is that to hear that from Luttig?
This is so interesting,
Poppy, because, of course,
this judge is a long time Pence ally.
This is someone who helped him
work through the certification
of the electoral results,
called him a hero of democracy.
So now the fact that he's coming out
and he says, look,
Pence doesn't have a chance in the world
of defeating this subpoena
from the special counsel.
This is significant.
Because Pence is arguing
that he should be protected
from this subpoena
under the Constitution
speech or debate clause.
Now that clauses supposed
to protect legislators
from any sort of law enforcement activity
that covers
their actual work in Congress,
Pence argues
that as president of the Senate,
he should qualify.
But this judge in the op ed he's
very clear about how he feels.
He says, look, Jack
Smith's subpoena was neither
politically motivated
nor designed to strengthen President
Biden's political hand in 2024.
Thus, the jarring dissonance
between the subpoena and Mr.
Pence's characterization of it.
It is Mr.
Pence who has chosen to politicize
the subpoena, not the DOJ.
But I will also point out
that The Wall Street
Journal editorial board recently came out
and had a completely different take.
They argued that
because of what Pence did on January 6th,
he should be given
the benefit of the doubt.
So clearly,
intelligent minds
can disagree
about the Pence subpoena,
but the opinions that really matter
will come from the courts.
And this issue
could go all the way
to the Supreme Court.
And he's like a treasure map
to like some sort of something.
Tell me about it.
I know
Paul is like you telling me,
Paul has won an office.
Paul Ryan, great reporting.
And thank you for explaining all of them.
Bring it all down. Thank you so much.
I promised.
That is House Speaker
Kevin McCarthy's
defense for sharing 40000 hours
of security footage
from the Capitol insurrection
with Fox News host Tucker Carlson
and the past.
McCarthy said
Donald Trump
was responsible for the attack.
The president bears responsibility
for Wednesday's
attack on Congress by mob rioters.
He should have immediately
denounced the mob
when he saw what was unfolding.
These facts require immediate action
by President Trump.
But now McCarthy tells The New York
Times, quote,
I was asked in
the press about these tapes
and I said,
they do belong to the American public.
I think Sunshine lets
everybody make their own judgment.
Democrats have been condemning
McCarthy for the move, warning
that it creates a significant security
risk.
Here's what Congressman
Democratic Congressman Jamie
Raskin said last night.
We have security concerns
about turning over
the location of security cameras
in the US Capitol that the police use.
We have concern about the escape
and evacuation routes
that were used on that day.
We don't want to just,
you know,
throw our hands up and say, well, let's
just let everything go
and let the insurrectionists
have the materials that will allow them
to plan the next January 6th.
In a letter to Senate colleagues
Wednesday, Majority Leader
Chuck Schumer
said McCarthy's actions, quote, laid bare
that this sham is simply
about pandering
to MAGA election deniers, not the truth.
Well, it is true
that his most conservative
members wanted him to release this.
They've been pushing him to do it.
That's why he's doing it.
But I think the risk that you hear from
other Republicans is they
do not want to talk about January six,
and this is just relitigating it.
And they don't think that works
in their favor.
And then releasing it,
I mean, quite honestly, to
a person
in the media who the courts have deemed
not legitimate news for that,
it is basically editorial
And so it's not a news program.
I don't know what people
I can't say
whether it should have been released
or not, not have been released.
But I think if it is, he should release
all the news
organizations in sunshine,
something that shines on everyone.
One, right.
Much as they do with the foyer request,
when people have a four year request
to CNN, does it for your request?
Everybody gets the information right.
If Kevin McCarthy
wants to release it to the media,
then you release it to everybody
so that everybody can get
a bite at the Apple
and there can be, as as he says,
a punchline. Yeah.