Aides to ex-presidents Obama, Bush, Clinton say they don't have classified files: Recap

Washington is reeling after another batch of classified documents was discovered in the home of another high-profile politician – this time, former Vice President Mike Pence.

Pence’s lawyer characterized the documents as “a small number of documents bearing classified markings that were inadvertently transported to the personal home of the former vice president at the end of the last administration.” He said they were found Jan. 16 and placed in a secure safe until they could be returned to proper authorities.

Meanwhile, President Joe Biden got a rare show of support from an unlikely source: Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, who told reporters on Capitol Hill that he'd be "shocked if there's anything sinister" in Biden's mishandling of classified documents.

Here's what else is happening in politics:

• Republicans set a hearing for next week on the Biden administration's border policies.

• Harris in California: Vice President Kamala Harris is visiting California Wednesday after two mass shootings in her home state that killed 18 people.

• McCarthy blocks Democrats from Intelligence panel: GOP Speaker Kevin McCarthy said he won't seat fellow California Reps. Eric Swalwell and Adam Schiff on the House Intelligence Committee. The White House has pushed back, accusing the GOP speaker of politicizing the committee.

• Germany has approved plans to send coveted Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, as the White House is expected to announce its own plans to send tanks. Biden is scheduled to speak at the White House at noon about Ukraine.

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Obama, Bush, Clinton: We don't have classified documents

Aides for former Presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton say they are not searching their offices for classified documents because those items were turned over when they left office.

“That search was conducted before he left the White House, when all of his Presidential records – classified and unclassified – were turned over to the National Archives," said a statement from Bush's office.

A similar statement from Obama's office says: "Consistent with the Presidential Records Act, all of President Obama’s classified records were submitted to the National Archives upon leaving office. NARA continues to assume physical and legal custody of President Obama’s materials to date."

And Clinton's office said that all his classified materials “were properly turned over to NARA in accordance with the Presidential Records Act.”

The statements came in the wake of the classified information troubles facing former President Donald Trump, former Vice President Mike Pence, and current President Joe Biden.

– David Jackson

White House: House Intelligence Committee ‘should not be politicized’

The White House criticized House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s move to block two Democrats from serving on the House Intelligence Committee, saying the panel “should not be politicized.”

Delivering on a promise to conservatives, McCarthy has said he won't seat Reps. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., on the committee. He has threatened to remove Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., from the Foreign Affair Committee.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, when asked about McCarthy's decision, said the three lawmakers “bring a lot to the table” on foreign affairs. “When it comes to that committee, it should not be politicized. It should be independent,” she said.

– Joey Garrison

Classified docs found at Pence's Indiana home: Classified documents found at former VP Mike Pence's Indiana home

Joe Manchin, Kevin McCarthy meet on debt limit

Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., met with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., Wednesday to discuss the debt limit amid growing fears over whether the divided Congress will raise the limit, according to Punchbowl News.

Manchin said that McCarthy told him in their meeting that he will not cut Social Security and Medicare, Punchbowl reported. McCarthy has previously said that he wouldn’t cut the two spending programs, including during his first press conference as House speaker.

– Sarah Elbeshbishi

What happens if the US hits the debt ceiling?: Here's what to expect if we reach debt limit.

Rep. Adam Schiff says House Speaker Kevin McCarthy ousting him shows his ‘weakness’

The morning after House Speaker Kevin McCarthy kicked him off the House Intelligence Committee, Rep. Adam Schiff said the move reveals how weak the House leader is and how far he will bend to placate the far right.

“This decision by Kevin McCarthy to bow to the demand from the most extreme elements of his conference and use the Intelligence committee for this kind of political play doesn’t show the strength of his speakership,” Schiff said. “Indeed, it shows the weakness of his speakership.”

McCarthy said he removed Schiff, who led the first impeachment of former President Donald Trump, for lying to the American public, though he did not describe the lies. He said his move is not about politics and is instead about restoring integrity to the committee.

– Candy Woodall

Intelligence interception: McCarthy plans to block Democrats Swalwell, Schiff from House Intelligence Committee

Marjorie Taylor Greene promoting herself to be Donald Trump's running mate, report says

Not only has the Republican presidential race begun, the jockeying for the vice presidential slot has also started – and it includes uber-conservative congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene.

NBC News reports that the Georgia lawmaker "is angling to be Donald Trump's running mate in 2024, according to two people who have spoken to the firebrand second-term congresswoman about her ambitions."

One of those people, former Trump political adviser Steve Bannon, told NBC that Greene is "ambitious" and "not shy" about it. "She sees herself on the short list for Trump's VP," Bannon said. Of course, a lot of conservatives are interested in being on a Trump ticket – if he wins the nomination.

No comment from Trump, who has campaign events this weekend in New Hampshire and South Carolina. Also: The Republican nominating convention is still a year-and-a-half away.

– David Jackson

Trump to hit campaign trail: Donald Trump plans campaign stops targeting Republican opponents – and prosecutors

Hearing set to investigate Biden’s border policies

The House GOP has set its first hearing to probe the Biden administration’s border policies for 10 a.m. Feb. 1, kicking off a big month in Washington as the president delivers the State of the Union address and a new budget against a backdrop of multiple Republican investigations.

House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan said he was “ready to work,” as he announced the hearing called “The Biden Border Crisis: Part I.”

Republicans are also planning other investigations that will kick off early next month, including a look at how federal agencies have been “weaponized” against political opponents, the origins of COVID and Biden family finances.

– Candy Woodall

Migrant crisis: Biden meets with mayors amid calls for federal help on migrant crisis, urges comprehensive reform

GOP eager to investigate Biden: Biden’s most vocal Republican antagonists emerge from the sidelines – with subpoena power

Former FBI official Charles McGonigal, accused of taking secret payments, to appear in federal court

A former FBI official, who once ranked as the bureau's top counterintelligence agent in New York, will make a first appearance Wednesday in a D.C. federal court where he is charged with taking $225,000 in secret payments from a former Albanian intelligence operative who also served as an FBI informant.

Charles McGonigal, indicted separately this week in New York where he is accused of concealing a business relationship with Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, first began accepting the cash payments from the Albanian operative a year before his 2018 retirement and hid the transactions from the FBI, prosecutors allege.

Prosecutors say McGonigal requested and received the cash from the operative who traveled extensively with McGonigal, including to Albania where the then-FBI official met with the prime minister to discuss oil drilling policies that could financially benefit his Albanian associate.

Federal authorities allege that the first of three payments was delivered to McGonigal Oct. 5, 2017, in parked car outside a New York City restaurant where the operative handed over about $80,000.

– Kevin Johnson

Ex-FBI official arrested: Charles McGonigal, ex-FBI official linked to Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, arrested

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy picks former rivals and new allies for investigative committees

Speaker Kevin McCarthy picked a mix of Republican allies and rivals to serve on two, new investigative subcommittees, including members who previously blocked his path to lead the House and his new supporter, Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene.

Greene, who was previously ousted from Twitter for spreading COVID misinformation, will serve on the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic – which will investigate the origins of the deadly outbreak. That panel also includes Rep. Michael Cloud of Texas, who previously blocked McCarthy’s bid for speaker in more than a dozen rounds of voting.

For the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, McCarthy picked two members who previously voted against him for speaker: Reps. Chip Roy of Texas and Dan Bishop of North Carolina. The only freshman on that committee is Rep. Harriet Hageman of Wyoming, who defeated former Rep. Liz Cheney – a leading member of the retired Jan. 6 committee.

– Candy Woodall

GOP committee picks: Far-right Reps. Boebert, Gosar and Greene are on committees probing Biden. What does that mean?

Nothing 'sinister': Sen. Lindsey Graham vouches for Biden amid classified docs discovery

President Joe Biden, under siege from GOP lawmakers over his mishandling of classified documents, got a rare shoutout from a Capitol Hill Republican.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., vouched for Biden's character Tuesday as the president faces intense scrutiny for his handling of classified information.

"I've known President Biden a long time," Graham told reporters on Capitol Hill. "I'd be shocked if there's anything sinister here."

Nothing 'sinister': Sen. Lindsey Graham vouches for Biden amid classified docs discovery

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy says what it would take to remove George Santos

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has spelled out what it would take to remove embattled freshman Rep. George Santos, who has admitted to lying to New York voters about his personal and professional background.

“If for some way when we go through Ethics and he has broken the law, then we will remove him,” he told reporters Tuesday. “The American public in his district voted for him. He has a responsibility to uphold what they voted for, to work and have their voice here, but at any time, if it rises to a legal level, we will deal with it then.”

Democratic members from New York, Reps. Daniel Goldman and Ritchie Torres, filed a complaint with the Ethics Committee earlier this month, urging the panel to investigate Santos and his campaign finance reports. He is also facing scrutiny at the local and state levels, with members of his own party calling on him to resign.

– Candy Woodall

George Santos controversy: Here's a look at investigations of the new House Republican

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to block Adam Schiff, Eric Swalwell from House Intelligence panel

GOP Speaker Kevin McCarthy said Tuesday he would not seat fellow California Reps. Eric Swalwell and Adam Schiff to the House Intelligence Committee.

"I will put national security ahead of partisan politics," he said during a news conference.

McCarthy has said Swalwell would be denied a security clearance in the private sector and that Schiff has lied to the public, claiming they are not fit to serve on the committee that handles classified information.

Democrats say it's political revenge. Both California Democrats served on the panel in the last Congress and Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., has asked that they be reappointed, Unlike most standing committees, the speaker has great latitute in deciding who serves on the Select Intelligence Committee.

- Candy Woodall

Cost of Leopard 2 tanks

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced Wednesday that his country would provide 14 Leopard 2 A6 tanks for Ukraine's military, in a move that follows months of diplomatic pressure from Kyiv. It comes ahead of an expected announcement from the White House about sending M1 Abrams tanks to battlefields in Ukraine.

President Joe Biden is scheduled to discuss Ukraine at a noon White House event today.

Modern, capable tanks are seen as critical to Ukraine’s ability to resist an expected springtime offensive by Russian forces and to help the Ukrainians claw back parts of their country seized during the invasion ordered by Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Ukrainians operate Russian and Soviet-era tanks. Western tanks would provide them with vehicles that have more firepower, mobility and armor.

-- Holly Rosenkrantz

Here's what to know on the Pence documents

• When were the documents discovered? The classified files were found Jan. 16 and placed in a secure safe until they could be returned to proper authorities, according to Pence’s lawyer, Greg Jacob.

• How many files were found? Pence’s lawyer characterized the documents as “a small number of documents bearing classified markings that were inadvertently transported to the personal home of the former vice president at the end of the last administration.”

• What Pence has said: Pence repeatedly denied knowledge of classified documents at his home last year. When asked explicitly by the Associated Press in August if he had such documents in his possession, he responded, "No, not to my knowledge."

• What security analysts say: The country's classified document woes are far from over yet. Security analysts told USA TODAY that the U.S. system of safeguarding classified presidential documents — especially during transfers of power — is in urgent need of improvement.

VP Kamala Harris to visit California in wake of mass shootings

Vice President Kamala Harris will visit California in the aftermath of two mass shootings in her home state that killed 18 people and renewed the president’s push for gun control.

"Our hearts are with the people of California," President Joe Biden said Tuesday. "The vice president's going to be going out.”

Seven people died Tuesday in two shootings near the Northern California community of Half Moon Bay, just days after a rampage in Southern California killed 11. Harris is scheduled to visit Monterey Park, site of one of the shootings.

– Joey Garrison

Biden schedule today

President Joe Biden will make a noon announcement at the White House about Ukraine.

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean -Pierre will hold a press briefing at 1:30 p.m.

Vice President Kamala Harris will address the Democratic caucus at the Capitol this morning. She departs Washington at 1:45 p.m. for California.

Harris will visit Monterey Park at 8:20 p.m. She will meet with families of the mass shooting victims there.

-- Holly Rosenkrantz

California shootings: 'Only in America': Gov. Newsom decries gun violence in visit to Half Moon Bay after 7 killed: Live updates

Taylor Swift ticket debacle took center stage in the Senate

The Senate Judiciary Committee knew “All Too Well” how poorly Ticketmaster handled selling tickets to Taylor Swift’s highly anticipated tour as senators examined the lack of competition within the ticketing industry and grilled a Ticketmaster executive on the handling of the tickets.

The committee pulled no punches as they held the company accountable and questioned its practices, power over the ticketing market and whether the company, which merged with Live National Entertainment in 2010, was a monopoly.

There was no shortage of Swift references as senators – and a witness – engaged in true fan behavior, dropping lyrics throughout the three-hour hearing, including Connecticut Democrat Sen. Richard Blumenthal, who suggested to Joe Berchtold, the president and CFO of Live Nation, that the company “look in the mirror and say, ‘I’m the problem. It’s me.’”

– Sarah Elbeshbishi

Sour note: 'Industrial-scale ticket scalping.' Senators grill Ticketmaster over Taylor Swift concert fiasco

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Obama, Bush don't have classified files; Manchin, McCarthy talk debt