This update from The Hill with this headline adds to the main article that
follows:
“Rosenstein: Key question
is whether Biden was aware of classified documents”
My notes: Seems to me that
Trump knew he had hundreds of classified docs and were holding them on purpose.
This early on it seems Biden aides packed a docs in boxes when
Biden left the Obama White House and that is most likely he was unaware.
Now AG Garland has appointed S/C Robert Hur to and see the facts.
Stay tuned, we shall see.
At this point:
There was no predawn FBI “raid” in Delaware at the Biden home for one simple
reason: When the docs were found by the Biden lawyers at this DC temp office, they
immediately notified NARA and the DOJ and kept looking and found a few more, not
hundreds like at Mar-a-Lago under Trump.
Trump on the other hand fought NARA and everyone else lying
along the way at every turn that is until a Judge approved a court search
warrant that was carried out by the FBI on August 8 at Mar-a-Lago and bingo –
that uncovered the mother lode.
Then irate and lying Trump and his legal team plus his own hand-picked
judge and also his hand-picked Special Master both got slapped down by higher
courts. Nothing like that in the Biden case.
I have said all along that holding TS/SCI docs away from a
SCIF is illegal since it’s a carefully controlled process. I know that from
first-hand work myself.
Trump had a lot of TS/SCI, whereas Biden it seems at this
point did not or at least maybe one or two. That too is a huge difference but
still worrisome. All-in-all this left-right hype gives both sides a lots of
political ammo and probably the GOP more so, right?
Original post follows
from here:
Major story (by GOP hypocritical standards that is) unfolding
in DC reported on here from the Washington Examiner with this headline:
“Lock him up – Republicans
erupt at Biden over classified documents”
Drawing parallels with the document ordeal plaguing Trump,
Republicans scorned Biden and demanded accountability. They emphasized that,
unlike Trump, Biden lacked powers to declassify documents. Democrats quickly
shrugged off their broadsides.
Biden's attorneys flagged roughly 10 documents with classified markings at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement in Washington shortly before the midterm elections and told the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) of their discovery.
The
situation has prompted a DOJ review of how the documents wound up there (according to CBS News).
Background: Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate was searched for classified material on August 8 by the FBI with an official court-approved search warrant and all along he insists that he declassified the documents in dispute.
Trump further contended at one point that a president can declassify material “…even by thinking about it.”
At least 300 documents bearing classified markings were recovered by
the government from Mar-a-Lago since January 2022 and even at one off-sight
location.
Some GOP Outrage” –
hang on tight – examples are classics:
Rep. Marjorie Taylor
Greene (R-GA) tweeted: “Joe Biden took classified documents from the White
House when he was Vice President. The VP does NOT have the power to declassify,
only POTUS. Joe Biden stole classified documents. This is a very serious crime.
DOJ & NARA can’t sweep this under the rug AND persecute Trump.”
Rep. Troy Nehls (R-TX) tweeted: “Classified documents from Joe Biden’s Vice Presidential days found at his private office. When will the FBI raid his home?”
Former GA State GOP Rep.
Vernon Jones tweeted: “Classified documents found at @JoeBiden center. LOCK
HIM UP…go ahead and get Hunter while you’re at it. Make it two for one! Watch
the double stands play out because it’s ole Joe. Chris Wray & Merrick
Garland have his back.”
FYI: The younger Biden Jones refers to is Hunter Biden, who has
been under the legal microscope for various alleged tax offenses and a false
statement about a gun purchase. Also, now House Republicans are poised to unleash
their newfound powers on the younger Biden and open investigations into him.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) plainly
tweeted: “Convene a grand jury.”
Sen. Marsha Blackburn
(R-TN) tweeted: “It’s been revealed that classified documents were found
inside Joe Biden’s private office. Why were they there, why wasn’t the Justice
Department looking for these documents, and who had access to them?”
Incoming GOP House
Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) demurred when asked whether his committee would
investigate the matter in this posted by a reader: “I think the other thing
that’s interesting, frankly, is they knew about this a week before the
election. Maybe the American people should have known about it.”
Conservative commentators added to Republican attacks, highlighting Biden's criticism of Trump's handling of
classified documents and alleged financial ties between China and the
University of Pennsylvania, which is associated with the Biden-aligned think
tank (zero proof of any Joe Biden-Chinese financial ties or connections).
Democrats, meanwhile,
were careful in their response:
Democrats as well as critics of Trump responded by
underscoring how Biden's lawyers flagged the documents and turned them over to
the National Archives.
Rep. Jamie Raskin
(D-MD) told CNN: “Attorneys for President Biden appear to have taken
immediate and proper action to notify the National Archives about their
discovery of a small handful of classified documents.”
Rep. Adam Schiff
(D-CA) also told CNN: “Obviously if there are classified documents anywhere
they shouldn't be, that’s a problem and a deep concern.”
And, Olivia Troye,
former homeland security and counterterrorism adviser to former VP Mike Pence
tweeted: “The difference is that Biden's lawyers cooperated & reached
out to the National Archives upon discovering the classified documents, unlike
Trump & his circle obstructing the investigation into the classified docs
at Mar-A-Lago. Regardless, the right will distort this & use it.”
The White House has been adamant that Biden is cooperating with the National Archives. Meanwhile, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois John Lausch (appointed by Trump) has been tapped by the DOJ to investigate how the classified documents wound up at the Biden-aligned think tank.
Also, the Trump Mar-a-Lago document
ordeal is still being examined by special counsel Jack Smith.
More related media covered (some extracts are here and there) from the Daily Mail, SALON, USA TODAY, and CNBC.
My 2 Cents: From all of that presented above, I conclude that the Biden classified documents vs. the Trump Mar-a-Lago case are not even close in comparison –both are serious – yes, at totally and highly different levels and degrees of seriousness.
Biden cooperated with NARA in one day and turned over the documents.
Trump fought tooth and nail to hide his Mar-a-Lago cache.
Stay tuned. More GOP unfounded ugliness is forthcoming – bet on it.
Thanks for stopping by.
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