The Justice Department says special advisers are “actively working” to provide information about the Trump and Biden documents to senators.

Washington. The Justice Department is working to educate lawmakers about potential national security risks following the discovery of classified documents in the homes of both former President Donald Trump and President Biden, a department spokesman told senators Saturday in a letter.

The letter from Assistant Attorney General Carlos Uriarte, which CBS News received from a source on Capitol Hill, was given to the heads of the Senate Intelligence Committee on Saturday evening and was in response to previous requests from two of the group’s top members for information about the documents. .

“We are working with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence to support the provision of information that will satisfy the Committee’s responsibilities without prejudice to the Special Counsel’s ongoing investigations,” Uriarte wrote in a letter to Senators Mark Warner and Marco Rubio, the chairman. and vice chairman of the committee.

The letter said the Justice Department tried to brief lawmakers last September. He also acknowledged “significant developments” since then, including the appointment of two special advisers to oversee separate investigations into documents found at the Trump estate in Florida and Mr. Biden’s home in Delaware.

“Although one of the special prosecutors was appointed only on January 12, prosecutors for both issues are actively working to ensure that information can be exchanged with the committee,” Uriarte wrote.

It remains unclear why department officials did not brief lawmakers last fall.

In a separate commentary to CBS News, a Justice Department spokesman said: “The Department is committed to sharing as much information with Congress as possible without compromising the integrity of our ongoing investigations. This has been a long-standing policy of the Ministry and we will continue to apply this policy in the same way.”

Attorney General Merrick Garland in November appointed Special Counsel Jack Smith to take over the investigation into Trump’s handling of classified documents found at his Mar-a-Lago estate.

In response to inquiries from CBS News, the White House confirmed earlier this month that documents marked “Secret” dating back to Mr. Biden’s vice presidency were discovered November 2 in its former Washington think tank office. has since been found in the President’s home in Wilmington, Delaware. Earlier this month, Garland appointed a second special counsel, Robert Hoore, to oversee the Justice Department’s investigation into documents found on Mr. Biden.

Saturday’s letter was also sent to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin, a Democrat, and senior member Lindsey Graham, a Republican. Uriarte heads the Legislative Affairs Office of the Department of Justice.

Following an Aug. 8 search in Mar-a-Lago, bicameral requests for information were received on potential national security risks associated with documents recovered by federal investigators. The government has recovered more than 300 Trump classification documents since the end of his presidency.

Lawmakers have requested similar information regarding approximately 25 to 30 records found in Mr. Biden’s former office at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement and his home in Wilmington. Some of the papers are from his time in the Senate, while others are from his vice president.

The Senate Intelligence Committee met last week with Director of National Intelligence Avril Haynes, but Warner and Rubio said the meeting left them unsatisfied because they were unable to review records found in the homes of Mr. Biden and Trump.

“Our task is not to find out if someone mistreated them. Our job is to make sure intelligence isn’t compromised,” Warner told Face the Nation in an interview taped last Thursday. “While previously the director of national intelligence was willing to brief us, now that you have a special adviser, the idea that we will remain in limbo and not be able to do our job is simply not worth it.”

Rubio told Face the Nation that it is “an unacceptable situation” for the intelligence committee to be denied access to the records due to investigations by special advisers.

Uriarte wrote in a letter to Warner and Rubio that the department “looks forward to continuing to engage with the committee to meet its needs in advancing the interests of the department.”

“It has been the Department’s longstanding policy to maintain the confidentiality of information on open issues,” he wrote. “The Committee’s interest in overseeing the country’s intelligence activities must be carefully balanced to protect the conduct and integrity of law enforcement investigations.”

Uriarte added that Justice Department policies protect the interests of the American people and the “effective administration of justice.”

“Disclosure of non-public information about ongoing investigations may violate legal requirements or court orders, reveal the plans for our investigations, and prevent the Department from gathering facts, interviewing witnesses, and prosecuting where warranted,” he said. “Confidentiality also protects the legal rights, personal safety, and privacy interests of individuals involved in or assisting our investigations.”

GOP Representative Mike Turner of Ohio, the new chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, told Face the Nation in December that a briefing and damage assessment by the director of national intelligence was “in progress,” but said last week that he had not yet heard from the intelligence community since the briefing was formally requested earlier in January. Turner gave the director a January 26 deadline to comply.

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