WASHINGTON –
A former executive assistant to Joe Biden has agreed to be interviewed by the House Oversight Committee as Republicans widen their investigation into the president’s handling of classified documents.
Cathy Chung — one of the staffers who packed up Biden’s belongings at the end of his term as vice president — is scheduled to speak with the committee on April 4, the committee said. Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., chairman of the Oversight Committee, requested the interview last month.
“The committee believes that your closeness to Vice President Biden and your role as his personal adviser gave you access not only to classified material that he maintained after he left the White House, but also to the business schemes of the Biden family,” Comer said. in a letter dated Feb. 4
Chung had already begun turning over documents and communications with the Biden family dating back more than 10 years, the committee said.
A Justice Department special prosecutor is already investigating how classified documents from Biden’s time as vice president and senator ended up in his home and former office — and whether the mishandling involved criminal intent or was inadvertent. Biden’s personal lawyers disclosed in January that a small batch of documents with classified markings had been found weeks earlier in his former Washington office and have since authorized the FBI to search multiple properties.
The latest search took place in mid-February at the University of Delaware, Biden’s alma mater. In 2011, Biden donated school records from his time in the U.S. Senate, where he served for 36 years.
Neither the university nor the president’s lawyers have disclosed whether classified documents were found at the school. Under the terms of Biden’s gift, the records must remain sealed until two years after he retires from public life.
The revelations that Biden, former President Donald Trump and former Vice President Mike Pence were in possession of classified documents over the past year have brought new scrutiny to the rules surrounding classified information and exposed an inconvenient truth: Policies designed to control the handling of national secrets are being enforced indiscriminately among senior officials. employees and rely almost entirely on good faith.
It’s also becoming increasingly common for presidents, vice presidents and even members of Congress to keep sensitive documents after leaving office, according to the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee.
“The archivist told us there were 80 members of Congress” who were found to have classified material in their records, Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn., told reporters Wednesday of a briefing he received from the National Archives. “How that happens is beyond me.”
The scheduling of Chung’s interview with House Oversight was first reported by CNN.
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Associated Press reporter Nomaan Merchant contributed to this report.