Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., concedes it's a bad look for everyone in Congress to be inundated with reports of high-profile politicians having classified materials in their personal possession from previous years.
And that includes the people in charge of managing which prominent lawmaker handles top-secret government documents — even for a brief period, under supervision.
"There are a lot of questions that need to be asked like, 'Who had access to those documents?'" Burchett told Newsmax on Tuesday evening, while appearing on "The Record with Greta Van Susteren," featuring guest host Bianca de la Garza.
"When all the dust settles, we [in Congress] are going to have to make a decision on who can be given access, and who doesn't handle [the documents], and the chain of command that they go in," said Burchett, a member of the House Oversight Committee.
The Tennessee Republican added: "I would hope, at some point, we get to a situation where some of those documents with the highest classified caliber would have a personal handler, and that person would take [the documents] from point A to B, whether it's to the president or vice president, or ranking members of Congress."
The constant revelations of lawmakers storing classified documents for their personal use "is just too much," lamented Burchett. "It's new stuff every day. ... It's time to clean house" with who controls the process.
Regarding Joe Biden's dilemma with allegedly mishandling highly sensitive documents from his days as a U.S. senator or vice president — with neither position possessing any powers of declassification — Burchett asserted the House committee chairs (Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and Rep. James Comer, R-Ky.) will get to the bottom of whether any foreign interests had access to classified materials, either through Biden or his embattled son, Hunter.
The above notion has special interest to Burchett, since he hasn't been impressed with how the White House or Department of Justice have clarified Biden's documents saga.
Burchett believes that Attorney General Merrick Garland and his DOJ staff have been "playing fast and loose" with the politics of handling the respective cases of former President Donald Trump, a Republican, and the Democrat Biden.
The White House has provided the American people "a bunch of non-answers," said Burchett, while adding the Democrats are "trying to lock" the Republican-controlled Congress out of the investigative process.
"I fully expect them to do that, to lock [House Republicans] out of any investigation. ... But I would submit we still have the final authority" as leaders of the judicial branch, added Burchett.
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