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Scalise Pledges Investigations into DOJ's Double Standard in Handling of Biden's Classified Documents

January 16, 2023

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) joined Fox Business Network’s Mornings with Maria to discuss how House Republicans will hold the Biden Administration accountable by using their subpoena power to conduct investigations. Leader Scalise slammed the Department of Justice for giving deferential treatment to President Biden and his mishandling of classified material after its unprecedented raid on President Trump’s home in Mar-a-Lago. Additionally, Leader Scalise pointed out how under the Biden Administration federal agencies and Cabinet secretaries are failing to work for the American people.

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Scalise on Fox Business Network’s Mornings with Maria

Click here or on the image above to view the interview.

On oversight of the Biden Administration:

“What you're going to finally see is real accountability and oversight because for too long, the Biden Administration has been living by its own set of rules. There's so many things that they've done that people have had questions about, yet Speaker Pelosi covered for that. They wouldn't look into any of the failures of the Biden Administration. 

“This of course, is one new example of the double standard of the Justice Department underneath the Biden Administration where they do one thing if it's [former President] Trump, and they do a completely different thing if it's [President] Biden. That's not the way that justice is supposed to work. It's supposed to be blind. It shouldn't matter if it's a Republican or Democrat, yet you see the double standard on full display. It's about time we finally get some real oversight and accountability on this government.”


On investigations into President Biden’s classified documents:

“I've actually had a number of conversations with now Chairman Comer, because [Congressman Comer] has officially taken over as Chairman of the Oversight Committee. He sent multiple requests to the White House, not just on this, but on so many other things. And you know, you could see with the Hunter Biden laptop story, the double standard that was on display there, but also the serious questions it raises about, you know, ‘Who is the big guy?’ And I think a lot of people have asked that question. The White House has been shielded from it up until now, but Chairman Comer is asking those questions, too. 

“So it starts number one with making document requests to the White House on very specific things. This is something that came up along the way that, look, if Republicans didn't win the house, do you really think that the public would know that these documents were in [President] Biden's garage, just laying around his garage, classified information? 

“This was known, by the way, before the election. Why did the Justice Department cover that up before the election? They sure didn't treat [their] raid on Mar-a-Lago that way. In fact, not only did they raid Mar-a-Lago, they leaked photos of those cover pages of those documents. Where are those leaked photos? Of course, you don't see it, because there's a double standard. So a lot of this is going to be number one. You start with requesting documents. We have subpoena power, [if] they don't give those to us, where we can actually subpoena to get those documents. 

“Then you bring people in. We're getting a lot of whistleblowers by the way. Both Chairman Comer’s committee and Chairman Jim Jordan’s committee have had a lot of people reach out from within some of these agencies that are disgusted by the way that they've got some rogue agents out there kind of doing their own thing – wildcating to carry out their political views. That's not how most of these career professionals want these agencies run. Yet, there's some people that are doing that. 

“So we're going to be looking into this on many fronts. Ultimately, you can then have hearings, once you go and dig to get the facts from these agencies. And again, if they don't give those, we have subpoena power.”


On which agencies House Republicans are looking into investigating:

“Well, you've got a number of agencies. It's not just the agencies like the Justice Department and the FBI – you're seeing all the Cabinet secretaries. Look at the border crisis. You know, with Secretary Mayorkas, we've heard from so many people that know that the border should be secured and yet they've been told, the Border Patrol agents have been told, to stand down. They can't even do their basic job of stopping drug cartels from bringing these drugs like fentanyl that are killing over 100,000 young people last year. So people want answers. 

“People want their government to just work for them. Look at the Department of Transportation. I mean, last week yet again, it seems like every week, we have some major scandal there. You know, with this FAA debacle that shutdown planes; before that, you had the Southwest debacle that supposedly there may have been some information prior to that failure that it was going to happen, and yet, the Department of Transportation did nothing. You had a supply chain shortage under that agency. What are these secretaries doing? They're surely not serving the public. Maybe they're looking out for their own futures, but it's surely not helping the American people.”


On President Biden allegedly mishandling classified information:

“Well, another question – is it criminal? You know, there was classified information sitting in a garage, not under lock-and-key, as was the case at Mar-a-Lago. So again, you know, will they treat it the same way? Seems like they're letting President Biden's attorneys go through the classified documents – do they themselves have the ability to look at classified information? Do they have those kind of levels of security clearance? 

“A lot of questions to be asked. At least finally, you have somebody willing to ask those questions now that Republicans are in charge of the House to get some accountability and some answers. If you're reviewing those, do you have the clearance to actually review those classified documents?”


On Speaker McCarthy’s invitation to President Biden to deliver the annual State of the Union:

“Well, I would hope he would accept that invitation and I'd like to hear him talk about some of the things he's willing to work with us on. We ran on a very specific agenda of getting our economy back on track – building an economy that’s strong, things like securing the border, lowering the cost for families who are struggling out there, confronting so many of the other problems that people are facing, and by the way, stopping all [of] this out of control spending. 

“Let's talk about these issues. I hope the president comes and discusses that. It’s time somebody starts working for those families who are struggling across America because they've been left behind by Washington for way too long. Let's just start focusing on getting our economy back on track, and helping those families who are struggling. That's what we'll be doing.”