Tom Cotton vows ‘there will be pain’ for Biden administration

Republican US Senator Tom Cotton, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, has vowed “there will be pain” until the Biden administration shows lawmakers what classified documents the US president held outside the proper security protocols.

Cotton (R-Ark.) said he and other Republicans will hold up Biden’s nominees until his administration shares with Congress the classified documents seized at Biden’s Delaware home and Washington office and former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate. 

Cotton also warned that Republicans could also hold up federal funding as leverage. 

“The administration is stonewalling Congress on the classified documents present at President Trump’s residence and President Biden’s residence and office, which is totally unacceptable,” Cotton told reporters Wednesday. 

“The members of the Intelligence Committee — for that matter, the members of Congress have an absolute right to this information so we can make an informed judgment about the risk, if any, these documents have posed to our national security by being improperly handled,” he said. 

The Arkansas senator rejected the Biden administration’s claims that the sensitive information can’t be shared with Congress while special counsels Jack Smith and Richard Hur are investigating Trump’s and Biden’s handling of the documents, calling it “a farce.”   

“Until the administration stops stonewalling Congress, there will be pain as a consequence for them,” he declared.

“Whether it’s blocking nominees or withholding budgetary funds, Congress will impose pain on the administration until they provide these documents,” he said. 

Cotton said that Congress had access “to many sensitive documents” during former Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into allegations that Russia colluded with Trump campaign advisers during the 2016 election.  

ME