The special counsel investigating how classified material ended up at President Biden’s think tank and home after his vice presidency has interviewed senior White House and cabinet officials.
Prosecutors said the former president’s defense team was trying to use an arcane law to derail the scheduled start of his trial on charges of mishandling classified material and obstructing justice.
While some of the questions hurled at Attorney General Merrick B. Garland were an attempt to pry free information, many were overtly partisan or based on distortion, insinuation and misinformation.
Such routine oversight hearings have become a forum for lawmakers to air their grievances and seek to bolster an inquiry into the president based on inconclusive evidence.
The president says he can direct limited military operations without lawmakers’ approval. Most G.O.P. presidential candidates, including Donald J. Trump, did not answer a survey on executive power.