Skip to content Skip to footer

DOJ Offers to Let Members of Congress See Details of Classified Docs Trump Took

An agreement between the DOJ and a bipartisan group of congressional lawmakers could come as soon as this week.

Former President Donald Trump departs after speaking at the Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida, on November 15, 2022.

Executive branch officials have reportedly offered to share with select members of Congress insights into the investigation into classified documents that former President Donald Trump improperly removed from the White House and stored at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Palm Beach, Florida.

Details on the proposal have not yet been released, and sources indicate that the offer is part of unofficial discussions regarding the sharing of information between the two government branches.

If a deal is reached, officials from the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Office of the Director for National Intelligence (ODNI) would detail what kind of information was contained in the over 300 classified documents that were retrieved from Mar-a-Lago over the course of three searches in 2022. The information would be shared with the majority and minority leaders of both houses of Congress, as well as the chairs and ranking members of both the Senate and House intelligence committees — a group of lawmakers commonly known as the “Gang of Eight.”

The briefing could happen as soon as this week. It would likely not allow these members of Congress to directly access the documents Trump took, but could grant them access to descriptions or copies of the documents.

The deal could be stalled, however, if Republican leaders demand to see information on the classified documents that were found in President Joe Biden’s possession. There are numerous reasons why that information could be omitted, however, including the fact that the inquiry into Biden began a couple of months after the one into Trump.

Experts say that Trump’s case differs from Biden’s because Trump had significantly more classified documents in his possession. While the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) and the DOJ have retrieved more than 300 classified documents from Trump, fewer than 25 classified documents have been found in Biden’s possession.

By all accounts so far, Biden has been cooperative in returning documents that his legal team found to be improperly in his possession, and has allowed the DOJ to search his residences for more material. Trump has been far less cooperative, however, and may have tried to impede officials’ efforts to retrieve the documents.

NARA spent nearly all of 2021 attempting to retrieve documents that Trump had removed from the White House. Trump and his lawyers only relented and allowed NARA to retrieve documents from Mar-a-Lago in January 2022 after the agency threatened to involve Congress in the matter.

After discovering that Trump was still stashing classified documents in his home after their first retrieval, NARA notified the DOJ, which subpoenaed Trump in late spring to hand over the remaining classified documents. At the time, Trump’s lawyers signed an affidavit affirming that no more classified documents remained on the property — however, shortly afterward, evidence surfaced that the former president had ordered his employees to move additional classified documents to another location on the estate.

The DOJ then executed a search warrant on the property, retrieving more than 100 classified documents from the property in August.

Both Biden and Trump are currently being investigated by special counsels appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland to ensure independence from the DOJ in their respective inquiries.

Help us Prepare for Trump’s Day One

Trump is busy getting ready for Day One of his presidency – but so is Truthout.

Trump has made it no secret that he is planning a demolition-style attack on both specific communities and democracy as a whole, beginning on his first day in office. With over 25 executive orders and directives queued up for January 20, he’s promised to “launch the largest deportation program in American history,” roll back anti-discrimination protections for transgender students, and implement a “drill, drill, drill” approach to ramp up oil and gas extraction.

Organizations like Truthout are also being threatened by legislation like HR 9495, the “nonprofit killer bill” that would allow the Treasury Secretary to declare any nonprofit a “terrorist-supporting organization” and strip its tax-exempt status without due process. Progressive media like Truthout that has courageously focused on reporting on Israel’s genocide in Gaza are in the bill’s crosshairs.

As journalists, we have a responsibility to look at hard realities and communicate them to you. We hope that you, like us, can use this information to prepare for what’s to come.

And if you feel uncertain about what to do in the face of a second Trump administration, we invite you to be an indispensable part of Truthout’s preparations.

In addition to covering the widespread onslaught of draconian policy, we’re shoring up our resources for what might come next for progressive media: bad-faith lawsuits from far-right ghouls, legislation that seeks to strip us of our ability to receive tax-deductible donations, and further throttling of our reach on social media platforms owned by Trump’s sycophants.

We’re preparing right now for Trump’s Day One: building a brave coalition of movement media; reaching out to the activists, academics, and thinkers we trust to shine a light on the inner workings of authoritarianism; and planning to use journalism as a tool to equip movements to protect the people, lands, and principles most vulnerable to Trump’s destruction.

We urgently need your help to prepare. As you know, our December fundraiser is our most important of the year and will determine the scale of work we’ll be able to do in 2025. We’ve set two goals: to raise $93,000 in one-time donations and to add 1295 new monthly donors by midnight on December 31.

Today, we’re asking all of our readers to start a monthly donation or make a one-time donation – as a commitment to stand with us on day one of Trump’s presidency, and every day after that, as we produce journalism that combats authoritarianism, censorship, injustice, and misinformation. You’re an essential part of our future – please join the movement by making a tax-deductible donation today.

If you have the means to make a substantial gift, please dig deep during this critical time!

With gratitude and resolve,

Maya, Negin, Saima, and Ziggy