Rep. Jamie Raskin, the ranking Democrat on the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, is demanding the Secret Service provide information about visitors to former President Donald Trump's and Vice President Mike Pence’s personal residences since they left office in light of the “mishandling of sensitive, highly classified documents.”
In a letter dated Tuesday to the agency's director, Kimberly Cheatle, Raskin, of Maryland, cites classified records found at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida last year and recent reports that classified documents were found at Pence’s Indiana home.
“Given that the U.S. Secret Service provided protection for Mr. Trump and Mr. Pence during the time they stored classified materials at their respective residences, the committee is seeking information from your agency regarding who had access to former President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club and former Vice President Pence’s personal residence since leaving office,” Raskin wrote.
Raskin gives a Feb. 14 deadline for the Secret Service to provide all documents and communications related to visitor information at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence and Pence’s home in Carmel, Indiana, from the time they left office.
Raskin said in a news release announcing his request that it's part of the committee Democrats’ investigation into the “safeguarding of presidential and classified records.” Raskin described the request as being “similar” to the requests by Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., this month focusing on classified documents discovered at President Joe Biden’s home in Wilmington, Delaware.
The White House Counsel’s Office told Comer last week that it is reviewing his requests and will cooperate with “legitimate oversight,” saying it has “fully cooperated” with the National Archives and the Justice Department to ensure documents with classified markings were provided to the appropriate authorities.
“We are reviewing your recent letters with the goal of seeking to accommodate legitimate oversight interests within the committee’s jurisdiction while also respecting the separation of powers and the constitutional and statutory obligations of the executive branch generally and the White House in particular,” White House counsel Stuart F. Delery wrote in a letter to Comer last week.
Delery, however, suggested that there will be a limit to what the White House is willing to share with Congress. “As I’m sure you are aware, these considerations include the critical need to protect the integrity and independence of law enforcement investigations,” he said.
Raskin previously weighed in on Comer’s request, saying it shouldn’t turn into a “political football.”
“People who are saying there was no problem with what Donald Trump did, which was to defiantly reject any cooperation in turning over hundreds of classified documents, are upset about President Biden’s voluntary and rapid turnover of a handful of documents that they found,” Raskin said at the time, adding that he hopes the committee will “keep a sense of symmetry about our analysis of these situations and a sense of proportion about the underlying offenses.”
