Mark Warner wants 'more information' about Trump and Biden classified docs

Ryan King

March 26, 10:04 AM March 26, 10:04 AM

Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner (D-VA) indicated that he was not satisfied with the intelligence community's briefing about classified documents found in the residences of former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden.

Warner and his counterpart, Senate Intelligence Committee Vice Chairman Marco Rubio (R-FL), have been briefed on the situation and have long clamored for more information about the classified documents. The senator said that he is willing to "ratchet up the pressure" to get more information.

RUBIO AND WARNER BRIDGE PARTISAN DIVIDE IN CALLS FOR INFORMATION ABOUT BIDEN CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS

"We need more information about these documents. And more importantly, we need to [learn about] what the intel community has done to mitigate the harm. And we're still in conversations with the Justice Department," Warner told CBS's Face the Nation.

Rubio previously conveyed that a briefing on the matter "left much to be desired." Warner concurred, noting that sentiment is "completely bipartisan" and echoed by all members of the intelligence committee.

"Our interest from the intel side is not about the mishandling by Trump, Biden, Pence — that's a criminal investigation. Our job is to oversee the intelligence community," Warner told CNN's State of the Union. "Clearly, I want to make sure that if they fell into the wrong hands, there has been mitigation efforts."

Warner also said that the panel was weighing options to increase pressure on the intelligence community.

"We have some additional ways we can ratchet up the pressure on the IC. Sen. Rubio and I, frankly, this is completely bipartisan. All the Democrats and all the Republicans on the committee feel the same. We also are going to try to press the Justice Department harder to make sure that we do can do our job," he told CNN.

Trump, Biden, and Pence have all come under scrutiny after classified documents were recovered at their residences. Special counsel Jack Smith has been tasked with overseeing Justice Department investigations related to Trump's handling of the sensitive material. Special Counsel Robert Hur is spearheading an inquiry pertaining to Biden.

Warner also re-upped his criticism of the Biden administration for not being transparent on the matter.

"The administration's position does not pass the smell test. We've got a job not to go into the legal ramifications but to make sure that the intelligence community has done what's right. And we've got some additional tools, we can restrict some of the spending," he added on Face the Nation.

Nearly all Republican senators bow out of 2024 race, while governors gear up

Ryan King

February 26, 03:48 PM February 26, 03:48 PM

As the 2024 race heats up, Republican senators have kept a wide berth from the presidential arena.

Despite the Senate being packed with ambitious, big-name politicians, Republicans in the upper chamber have been hesitant about going toe-to-toe with former President Donald Trump in a marked departure from past elections. Meanwhile, hoards of Republican governors are gearing up for a potential run.

MANCHIN SIDESTEPS QUESTION ABOUT WHETHER HE WILL RUN FOR SENATE IN 2024

Back in the 2016 cycle, at least five of the 17 major Republicans served in the Senate at one point, including Sens. Marco Rubio (R-FL), Ted Cruz (R-TX), Rand Paul (R-KY), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), and Rick Santorum (R-PA), who is no longer a senator.

This time, however, virtually all of the top Republican senators have declined to run and have actively refrained from cultivating buzz about them running.

Multiple prominent Republicans, such as Cruz, Josh Hawley (R-MO), and Rick Scott (R-FL), are up for reelection in the Senate. The trio has maintained that they will stick to running for reelection rather than enter the 2024 presidential lions' den.

Some of those three, particularly Cruz, maintained an active profile in the 2022 election cycle, crisscrossing the country or headlining fundraisers on behalf of Republicans in the midterm elections.

Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT), the 2012 Republican nominee who is also up for reelection and has been an unabashed critic of Trump, has been clear he has no intentions of running either. He also has not committed to vying for a second term in the upper chamber.

Even prominent Republicans who aren't up for reelection in the 2024 cycle, such as Sens. Tom Cotton (R-AK), Rubio, and Paul, have seemingly passed on a 2024 stint.

Perhaps the one major exception is Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), who has embarked on a "Faith in America" listening tour that featured sessions in South Carolina and Iowa as he eyes an entrance into the 2024 fray.

This is a stark departure from most election cycles since 2000, in which Senators played a pronounced role in presidential primaries. Instead of Senators, the 2024 Republican season is shaping up to be rife with governors.

Trump's first major GOP primary challenge was former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley. His top speculated foe is Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R). Meanwhile, a bevy of current and former Republican governors, such as Chris Sununu (NH), Chris Christie (NJ), Asa Hutchinson (AK), Larry Hogan (MD), Glenn Youngkin (VA), and Kristie Noem (SD), are eyeing the 2024 field.

Former Vice President Mike Pence, who is mulling a run, also previously served as governor of Indiana.

Trump and DeSantis consistently dominate the polling of the 2024 GOP field, with no other candidates clinching double-digits, according to the latest RealClearPolitics polling aggregate.

Five takeaways from lone Florida Senate discussion amongst Marco Rubio and Val Demings

Naomi Lim

Oct 18, 10:01 PM Oct 18, 10:22 PM

Abortion access, election protection, and international coverage dominated Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Rep. Val Demings's (D-FL) 1 and only discussion right before Florida voters determine which they want to characterize them in the Senate.

Demings, the underdog challenger, arrived out swinging, calling two-term incumbent Rubio a liar and cheat while introducing herself to the statewide citizens "as the daughter of a maid and a janitor." But the six-12 months Orlando-dependent Home lawmaker and previous police chief's bluster seemed to peter out in comparison to Rubio's command of coverage, besides for his evasive response to a query about abortion.

Right here are 5 times from the hourlong discussion that stood out:

BIDEN Keeps Target ON ABORTION AS DOBBS Shows Signals OF FIZZLING AS VOTER Priority

ABORTION

As President Joe Biden underscores the problem of abortion nationwide, a person of Rubio and Demings's most striking contrasts became apparent when they were speaking about Rubio's co-sponsorship of Sen. Lindsey Graham's (R-SC) 15-week abortion ban.

"Each monthly bill I've at any time sponsored on abortion, every monthly bill I've at any time voted for has exceptions," Rubio explained. "Every single a single of them does simply because which is what can move and which is what the the vast majority of people assist."

When pressed on no matter whether he would back again a bill devoid of exceptions, the senator additional he didn't "believe that that the worth of human life is decided by the circumstance."

"We are never going to get a vote on a legislation that isn't going to have exceptions," he mentioned. "She nonetheless would not solution what unique restrictions. She has by no means voted for limits."

Demings recurring she endorsed "a woman's proper to select up to the time of viability."

GUN Regulate

Coming from a condition marred by gun violence, Rubio and Demings sparred more than how federal lawmakers really should respond to mass shootings, this kind of as the 2016 Orlando Pulse nightclub taking pictures and Parkland's Stoneman Douglas High University capturing two years later.

Demings appeared disappointed with Rubio's plan argument immediately after this week's shooting in North Carolina, contending he designed "no feeling" right after he was asked whether an 18-yr-old should be able to obtain an AR-style rifle.

"Persons who are people of victims of gun violence have just listened to that, and they're inquiring by themselves, 'What in the hell did he just say?'" she mentioned. "Florida handed laws raising the age to have an assault weapon."

"What would make no feeling is that we are likely to in fact pass laws that only regulation-abiding folks will stick to and criminals proceed to violate," Rubio replied. "The dilemma is that the Remaining in the Senate and in the Home, like congresswoman Demings, are towards it since they want the California crimson flag law that allows your co-employee who has a grudge and can go to a judge."

Foreign Plan

Irrespective of equally getting on their chamber's intelligence committee, Rubio's membership of that panel, in addition to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, was shown all through questions on Russia, China, and immigration.

When needled on how the United States should answer if Russia have been to strike an ally, Demings mentioned there must be an "speedy" response, although Rubio included it should really be "proportionate."

"The NATO alliance will have to meet up with and choose what is proportional reaction, and that would rely on the nature and degree of the attack," he said. "It would have to be an allied response, not only a U.S. one."

Rubio and Demings had been much more evenly matched on China policy. Demings claimed the U.S. desired to "maintain China accountable," especially with regards to Taiwan. Rubio quipped that sounded like "a good bumper sticker."

"He goes close to the state conversing a lot about our dependency on China for semiconductors, and then he voted versus the CHIPS Act that will help further American independence," Demings claimed.

Financial system

The financial state was not the centerpiece of the debate, defying anticipations provided that polling suggests it is a leading voter worry. Rubio and Demings have been asked what they would do now to give middle-course family members money relief. Rubio criticized Demings, and Democrats more broadly, for passing trillion-dollar paying deals and for getting a domestic electrical power policy that has relied on periodic releases from the country's crisis oil reserve. Demings, in switch, scrutinized the pandemic-period Paycheck Safety Plan.

ELECTION INTEGRITY

Rubio and Demings had been grilled 2 times on election integrity and security. Rubio distanced himself from Republicans and 2022 gubernatorial nominee Stacey Abrams (D-GA), who have disputed election benefits in the past, advocating for identification specifications and in opposition to fall containers, as very well as so-named ballot harvesting.

"I assume elections have to have policies," he claimed, dismissing persons likening "what's happening now to the Jim Crow period."

The pair was also asked why a federalized method to elections was important. Demings urged Congress to move the John R. Lewis Voting Legal rights Improvement Act

"We never require that federal regulation imposed on every single condition," Rubio countered. "Florida has quite superior election guidelines, and other states are very good."