yamiche: president biden's document discovery and mccarthy's first week as a speaker. >> extraordinary circumstances require the appointment of a special counsel. yamiche: the attorney general takes action after classified documents are found in president biden's former office and delaware home. >> a thorough review will show these documents were inadvertently misplaced. yamiche: the white house gs on defense. >> they knew before the election but they kept it a secret from the american public. yamiche: as the new speaker seizes on the revelation, adding it to the house gop is growing list of investigations. plus. >> he should resign. yamiche: republicans's slim majority has its own problems, with calls for one lawmaker to step down. next. >> this is "washington week."

corporate funding is provided by -- >> for 25 years, consumer cellular's goal has been to provide wireless service that helps people communicate and connect. we offer a variety of no-contract plans, and our u.s.-based customer service team can find one the fits you. to learn more, visit consumercellular.tv. >> additional funding is provided by -- koo and patricia yuen through the yuen foundation -- committed to bridging cultural differences in our communities. sandra and carl delay-magnuson. rose hirschel and andy shreeves. robert and susan rosenbaum. the corporation for public broadcasting, and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. ♪ >> welcome to washingtonweek. president biden is dealing with his own classified document controversy this week after

back-to-back days of revelations and bruising headlines. on tuesday, the white house announced in early november, a set of classified documents from biden's days as vice president were found at an office he used at a think tank. the next day, a second set of classified documents were found this where -- this time his delaware home. on thursday, the attorney general appointed a special counsel to investigate the matter. before his announcement, the president in-house speaker kevin mccarthy addressed the growing controversy. >> people know i take classified material seriously. i also said we are cooperating fully and completely with the justice department review. >> congress has to investigate this. laura: this comes two months after garland assigned a special counsel to investigate former president donald trump's handling of classified documents seized from s mar-a-lago home. joining me to discuss this and more, nick confessore from e new york times, and in the studio, nancy cordes from cbs

news, eugene daniels from politico, and marianna sotomayor from the washington post. thank you for being here. nancy, cbs broke the story about biden's classified documents. what do we know so far about the situation and the special counsel investigation? nancy: what we now know is there were approximately 20 classified documents found in two different locations, about 10 documents in what we are told is a locked closet in the former vice president's office at the biden center in washington, d.c., and fewer than 10 documents at his home in wilmington, delaware, host of them in the garage. some of the documents were labeled top secret, the highest level of classification. what we also know is e attorney general come america

garland, has appointed a special counsel -- general, merrick garland, has appointed a special counsel. a former u.s. attorney for the district of maryland, a repuican, he will interview whoever he wants in the investigation can go where he wants it to go in these things don't tend to wrap up quickly so we are looking at the possibility of another six months to a year. laura: it could go quite a while. eugene, what are the conversations happening right now behind closed doors inside the white house? what is atmosphere like? eugene: when you're talking to aids, what they realize and they are starting to concede is this week did not go well for them when it comes to being transparent about this. we only found out about these documents because of cbs's reporting. they didn't say this happened in

november when they were found, or in december when the second tranche of document were found. when the press secretary was asked about this, she kind of hymned and hard. this white house has promised transparency. right now is a difference between honesty and transparency. they did what is considered the right thing, calling the national archives, having them get the documents, being upfront when they were asked, but they were not transparent in they finally know that. but as you know, this is a white house that once they decide on a path, they stick to it, they are stubborn that way sometimes. whether we will see them back that up and try to be a little more forthcoming is something we will have to watch the next couple of weeks. laura: very true, president biden when he picks the tradition -- picks a position, he tends to stick to it. despite similarities in these

cases, there are significant differences in the cases of classified documents. president biden had a small number of documents. for mr. trump, around 300 classified documents. for biden, they were found in his d.c. office and delaware home, and for trump, at his mar-a-lago estate. and as you said, biden voluntarily turned over the documents immediately whereas trump's documents were seized in an fbi search after withholding them for more than a year. nick, speaker mccarthy immediately said he thinks the house should investigate biden's handling of classified documents and add it to their investigation docket, which includes going after the fbi for its search of mar-a-lago. this reminds me a bit of what happened when house republicans pursued hillary clinton through the ben ghazi select committee. could we see more of the same?

nick: house republicans campaigned on this. i think we will see this. joe biden is under investigation by a republican special prosecutor, it doesn't get more serious. i think the key thing is the egg on the face of how they handled president trump with his handling of t documents, and then they find documents in higgs -- in his garage. these investigations obviously can become political theater or start that way, and kevin mccarthy in 2015 had gone back on sean hannity show and bragged about how the benghazi investigation had driven down secretary clinton's ratings in

the polls. that was a saying it out loud moment of the true purpose of the half-dozen different probes of ben ghazi saw from republicans. laura: i will let it slide, you said camaro instead of corvette. [laughter] president biden would be upset with you. [laughter] marianna, republicans appear in lockstep on these investigations . is there any hesitancy behind closed doors among moderate republicans? marianna: absolutely not. even moderate, and those with bigger questions about why presidents can take this information. a number of republicans want to see this investigation go forward because they did run on the issue of transparency and that is key here. even in the last couple of

hours, the judiciary chairman jim jordan, who has always been criticizing the biden administration, saying the bided administration officials need to come forward, talk to republicans. i know the intelligence committee, once they are formed, that is a big question, a lot of republicans don't know what committees they serve on right now, they want to see these documents. they want to know why did the department of justice just now, because it was revealed through reports, why are they just now letting everyone know this happened? how long did they know that biden have classified information? and they want to point out a difference between republican and democrats, and how there is a new weaponization committee republicans just formed, and they want to investigate the fbi, the doj, and how they have handled republicans in the past. nancy: and they are not wasting

any time, the oversight committee has already sent a letter to the white house telling them they have two weeks to hand over all white house communication about these classified documents. en the democratic lawmakers i've spoken to and i am sure it is the same for you, they basically concede we will get hit on this until the end of time. republicans will not let this go despite the clear difference as you pointed out between these two cases, the biden case and the trump case. they say it muddies the waters for them and makes it harder for them to make an example out of former president trump, even though many of them leave at the end of the day what the special counsel is going to conclude, at least based on the facts we know now, is this was a mistake, sloppiness, accidental, they don't believe there was any ill intent. laura: why would democrats, or have democrats said they will comply with these potential subpoenas that come along? we all know kevin mccarthy and

jim jordan did not comply with the subpoenas they received from the january 6 committee. marianna: that will be interesting, the democrats set a precedent of trying to compel republicans to talk to that committee and it will be interesting to see if republicans match that and try to ask democrats to come forward. we don't know if any congressional democrat right now was involved in any of these classified information or things like that, but democrats are very much trying to tow the line and play it cautiously. really reiterating whenever they can there is a difference, as we mentioned. the biden administration did comply and it was not kept in secret in any way, like tom, you had really compel him to turn over the documents. that's likely the messaging you will continue to hear from democrats. laura: these revelations hit ju as president biden's approval rating was going up. what are the political implications? eugene: he was having a good few weeks, riding high after the midterms were not as bad as we

thought they were going to be. they kept the senate, they kept it slim in the house. he and his team were having conversations about when and where they were going to make an announcement about whether he would run for president. they were feeling good. the political implications are now you have the current president and former president both being investigated for the mishandling of classified documents. there are differences, but the american people don't typically care about the ainu should of things like that. -- minutia of things like that. when you talk to actual people, what they will continue to hear is that joe biden had classified materials somewhere it wasn't supposed to be. that is what the white house also knows. as democrats are going round, they are on the same page and making sure the differences are made known, it almost may not matter when it comes to how the american people see it. joe biden still has to make a

public decision about whether he will run. it will be difficult to make an announcement you will run for president and say you will run for president if there is a special counsel investigation into your mishandling of classified materials. laura: nick, what do you think? the criminal charges could be very different, especially for president, former president donald trump. he's facing charges under the espionage act for obstruction. could this loom over 2024 for him or president biden? nick: it is sort of too soon to say. we've got to get some basic questions answered, including what kind of classified documents are we talking about? was it the cafeteria menu at langley or nuclear secrets? why did they wait until november 2022, two years after the president was first elected? how did it happen this was discovered two years later? i'm curious. it could be a simple answer.

the best thing for the biden people to do is if they don't think there is anything to hide, tory to get through this investigation as fast as possible, open the door, let the prosecutor come in, and try to answer those questions quickly so they can put it behind them. president trump has a bigger problem. there is evidence of intent, which is important in these cases, that he wanted to hold onto them, that he knew he should not have them. that was a third or fourth or fifth big difference between these cases. laura: i know we are on the house side and they are operating under different procedures and not necessarily investigating president trump at all, former president trump's actions. this week, kevin mccarthy finally realized his dream of wielding the speaker's gavel. his first week on the job was relatively easy as republicans passed a number of partyline bills. but the treasury secretary warned friday that thentry's debt limit will be reached sumer

and -- sooner than expected. the fight to increase it will likely be one of the greatest challenges he has as bigger. a new split among house republicans was revealed this week, how to deal with freshman congress when george santos, facing pressure in his own party to resign? on the debt ceiling, one of the biggest worries i think we will sethis year, the treasury secretary said today starting next week she will have to use extraordinary measures to make sure the country does not default on its debt. how difficult is it going to be for kevin mccarthy to avoid a fiscal cliff? nancy: incredibly difficult. when the republicans won the house and they knew how narrow of a majority they have, they knew that anything would be complicated. they really had to scale back even the messaging bills they started to put on the floor this week because they knew anything that needed more compromise likely would not happen.

i think a lot of them, though optimistic, they saw how hard it was to elect speaker of the house. they now know the reality of the difficulties that are to come and the debt ceiling is number one. my colleagues at the washington post reported a couple of hours ago that part of the deal mccarthy made with some of the holdouts was to propose what janet yellen should be prioritizing ahead of that debt ceiling, hitting that debt ceiling. so thahey can't get anything done, republicans can say the government should still be paying things like social security. however, that means you might not be able to pay off things like border security and the aviation systems, and that is already creating a big backlash. anything the house proposes, the senate needs to pass, so it is likely this proposal may not come to be. it's already showing just how

hard it will be for republicans, especially in the house, to agree on what to do. laura: it is a very slim majority and we still don't know all of the concessions kevin mccarthy potentially gave to a lot of those holdouts. in terms of the white house, on the other side of pennsylvania avenue, what is their position on the debt ceiling? nancy: their position right now is they are not going to negotiate, you should not have to negotiate over raising the debt ceiling. this is simply to allow the u.s. pay the bills for money that has already been allocated by this congress, bypassed congresses, democrats and republicans. they say no negotiating. on the other hand, you got kevin mccarthy saying this is our g chance, we are going to list some concessions. he's been floating the idea o a spending cap, something congress has done before, a sickly saying we agree to raise the debt ceiling and in exchange you don't raise spending for a couple of years but is that

going to fly even with his own members? they want to roll back spending. the big challenge is going to be even if he can craft some kind of deal with the white house -- and rember right now the white house says it will not deal -- can he sell that to enough of his members to get it across the finish line? i think that's part of the reason you saw janet yellen come out today and say ok, here is exactly how much time you have come you have until early june. i can do various things to prioritize how we pay our bills, but june is the deadline and you need to figure it out i then. laura: those five core anti-kevin mccarthy republicans that held the line until the end, they don't seem at all like they want to vote to increase the debt limit. that will be a very risky move that has real-world consequences for a lot of americans. nick, this week the house i want to expand to the other thing

they tackled this week, they also voted on two antiabortion bills, one that would have subjected doctors who performed the receipt or to prosecution. you said that potentially reflects where the weight of the republican caucus is. why is that? nick: i think it shows in the wake of roe being overturned, the republican party is committed to further eroding abortion rights across the country. it's a central mission of the party so we will see more of that. politically to some extent, it illustrates the bind kevin mccarthy is in with a small minority. because he has a small minority, he has more hostage to the extreme elements in his coalition and a moment when it could be smart to broaden the coalition. there are two reasons why republicans underperformed in 2022 -- trump and abortion. it is fascinating to see in the first week of his and is, they pass these two bills on abortion and float the idea of a racing

trump's first impeachment for the record, expunging it. it's not the way back to a larger minority in 2024, that it is where the party is going to some extent, and it is what he owes the base of the party. laura: eugene, on abortion, it was one of the big reasons republicans do not do as well as they thought in the midterms. it was a big motivating factor for democrats, for democratic voters. how does the white house view these house bills that a passing? eugene: what they would say is this is more proof they want to toss red meat, as nick was saying, to a base that one, isn't growing, and that they got it right, they spent a lot of time talking about abortion and abortion access, and telling american voters before the midterms that this is something you will see republicans do and this is just more of that. i think what is fascinating,

vice president harris focused on this a lot, and closer to the midterms, immigrants telling the white house stop forcing -- stop focusing on abortion, stop focusing on a small d democracy and focus on the economy. but they got that right. they will continue to beat this drum and talk about what the fight against abortion restriction looks like, what the whe house can do with the bully pulpit, and how they will team up with states and local officials to actually protect and possibly expand in the states where that is possible. it is a tough battle because this is an issue that so many americans agree with, agree with the white house, but you have republicans that are so staunchly against it, it will not be easy for anybody to move forward. laura: nancy, how are your sources telling you the white house is preparing for this split congress? nancy: they are also going

really hard this week in addition to what eugene was talking about when it comes to abortion, they also went hard on the republicans for taking this very early vote to try to rollback new funding for the irs. it will not go anywhere because republicans don't control the senate, they took a vote in the house and made a big statement by doing it in the first week, even though the congressional budget office had determined that actually it would add to the deficit over the next 10 years because the irs would be in a more difficult position when it comes to cracking down on tax cheats and basically collecting taxes from wealthy americans. the white house and the president himself went after republicans hard for that one, arguing they don't want to shrink the deficit after all and that's not what the american people want, fighting for the wealthy to stop paying their taxes. republicans are underred.

they have two years until their next election so they don't really have to worry right now about winning the middle and independens, it's about showing the base we will do what we told you we would do. laura: as they are facing a split congress, house republicans themselves have a lot of drama internally. nick, on george santos, he is facing a lot of calls from new york republicans, including some members of the house gop themselves, to resign. later mccarthy -- excuse me, speaker mccarthy is not calling on him to resign and fellow gop leaders are not calling on him as well. why do you think that is? nick: because they have to have his vote in the house, they can't afford to alienate a single one. they can say let's have the process play out, have investigations. it's not up to mccarthy to the side and he can say it's not up to me. i do think if you had to ask why

is he saying i am not going to resign, i don't think there is any lesson from the past five years that would tell george santos -- the past 10 years -- that would tell george santos to resign. donald trump went through a presidency full of revelations about inventing and falsifying huge aspect about his personal li, business history, business acumen. it did not matter to his voters. it did not matter. the myth was stronger than the reality. george santos is probably counting on people not caring that much. i thi in this case it is more egregious, it's almost everything he has ever said it seems like. i think there's no question that for santos, what is the upside to resigning? laura: the upside potential not be a very good one because his house leans democratic. it would potentially just go to democrats if a special election were called. marianna: absolutely.

the big difference is what nick said. the leadership wants to make sure they can keep a four vote majority, and if you have three, remember the last couple of weeks. it is tough. laura: it's close, it's about keeping the majority. we have to leave it there for now but thank you to the panel for running us and sharing your reporting. on saturday on pbs news weekend, the health and financial costs of looming covid price hikes. as you know, this show features some of the best reporters in journalism. one of those reporters died this week at the age of 44. nick, eugene and i worked with blake and there is no doubt he left an indelible mark. we send our deepest condolences to his family and those who left and worked with him. good night from washington. >> corporate funding for "washington week" is provided by >> for 25 years, consumer cellular's goal has been to provide wireless service that helps people communicate and

connect. our u.s.-based customer service team can find one the fits you. to learn more, visit consumercellular.tv. >> additional funding is provided by -- koo and patricia yuen through the yuen foundation -- committed to bridging cultural differences in our communities. sandra and carl delay-magnuson. rose hirschel and andy shreeves. robert and susan rosenbaum. the corporation for public broadcasting, and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. ♪ [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy.]

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