Democratic California Senate candidate to skip Biden visit to state amid classified document investigation

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Democrats 'want answers' on Biden classified documents, Rep. Porter says

California Democratic Rep. Katie Porter said Tuesday that members in her party "want answers" on classified documents found at Joe Biden's think tank and Delaware home.

Rep. Katie Porter of California, who recently announced her run for U.S. Senate, will not be meeting with President Biden on Thursday as he arrives to survey the areas devastated by severe weather.

Biden will be visiting California's central coastal region this week to meet with local officials and emergency responders. 

DEMS 'WANT ANSWERS' ON BIDEN DOCUMENTS, REP. PORTER SAYS: 'CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS BELONG IN CLASSIFIED SETTINGS'

President Biden looks on as Rep. Katie Porter, D-Calif., speaks before Biden delivered remarks on lowering costs for American families at Irvine Valley College in Orange County on Oct. 14, 2022 in Irvine, California.  (Mario Tama/Getty Images)

The area has been ravaged by weeks of heavy precipitation which has caused flooding, landslides and deaths. 

Asked by reporters after a town hall on Tuesday whether she will be meeting up with the president, Porter said she would instead be in Orange County.

"With regard to the president, I'm going to be back home in Orange County on Thursday," Porter said. 

WHITE HOUSE REFUSES TO SAY IF BIDEN WOULD SIT FOR INTERVIEW WITH SPECIAL COUNSEL IN CLASSIFIED RECORDS PROBE

Rep. Katie Porter attends The 2022 MAKERS Conference at Waldorf Astoria Monarch Beach on Oct. 25, 2022, in Dana Point, California. (Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for The MAKERS Conference)

She continued, "I'm back home in Orange County on Thursday doing some work in my district. But I was thrilled to have President Biden come out in October. We had a terrific visit."

Porter, at the same town hall, was asked about her role in the House Oversight Committee and the ongoing investigation into Biden's illicit storage of classified documents at his private residence, inside his garage, and in the office of his think tank.

COMER WILL 'CONTINUE TO PRESS' FOR INFO ON BIDEN DOCS  SCANDAL AFTER WHITE HOUSE SAYS NO VISITOR LOGS IN DE

Floodwaters surround homes on Thornton Rd. in Merced, Calif., as storms continue battering the state on Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2023.  (AP Photo/Noah Berger)

"So I definitely think that we want to get answers from the White House," Porter said. 

Porter, however, wouldn't say if she will sign on to a request from Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer for records related to the classified documents.

"I don't know if that document request – I have not reviewed the line by line of the request that Chairman [James] Comer made – but I definitely think we want answers. Classified documents belong in classified settings, and I think you heard me say oversight is not a partisan thing. Good oversight means you're willing to hold any rule breaker to account."

CALIFORNIA VOTERS RE-ELECT DEMOCRATIC REP. KATIE PORTER TO STATE'S 47TH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT

Uvas Creek floods a section of Miller Avenue in Gilroy, California, as the latest series of atmospheric rivers hit the Bay Area on Jan. 9, 2023. (AP)

Porter has also announced she will be running for U.S. Senate in California in 2024 despite no indication from incumbent Sen. Dianne Feinstein that she plans to step down.

"I don't know what Sen. Feinstein will decide to do, and I have tremendous respect for her making her own decision in her own time," Porter said Tuesday. "And that's exactly what I've done, is make my own decision in my own time. So I don't know when she'll make a decision or what her decision will be. But I think we should let her make it."

At one point in the town hall, Porter was asked about the role of diversity and racial representation in the Senate.

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"We need more Black women in the Senate. We need more Latina women in the Senate. We need more AAPI women in the Senate. We need indigenous people in the Senate. We need a more diverse representation, a landscape that's absolutely clear," said Porter, who is White. 

She continued, "And the Senate, as well as the House, needs to do that work. But I think every candidate needs to make their own choice about whether to enter this race, what they're going to fight for, whose voices they're going to lift up. And I'm really excited about having launched my campaign."