Really? No regrets over spreading classified material around between multiple locations and leaving them piled up in an unsecured box behind your prized corvette in a garage?
President Biden insists “there’s no there there,” but that determination has yet to be made. This isn’t merely a “Fox News story” as the White House enjoys dismissing questions it doesn’t like, every left-of-center media outlet is asking the same things.
The New York Times on Friday reported on the “68 days of silence” between when the Biden administration knew about the document scandal to when it finally relented and admitted what was going on:
The decision by President Biden and his top advisers to keep the discovery of classified documents secret from the public and even most of the White House staff for 68 days was driven by what turned out to be a futile hope that the incident could be quietly disposed of without broader implications for Mr. Biden or his presidency.
The handful of advisers who were aware of the initial discovery on Nov. 2 — six days before the midterm elections — gambled that without going public, they could convince the Justice Department that the matter was little more than a minor, good-faith mistake, unlike former President Donald J. Trump’s hoarding of documents at his Florida estate.
From the onset, the strategy was to defer, deny, and ignore. If it could be contained by keeping the story quiet then it could be explained as nothing more than a simple misunderstanding and a document mix-up. Doesn’t everyone have classified documents stacked next to their old tires and cans of motor oil?
When asked whether he has “regrets” about the way documents were handled, a softball question on its face, Biden responded predictably:
Mr. Biden, asked why the White House didn’t disclose the existence of the documents in November before the midterm elections, told reporters he thinks they’re going to find out “there’s no there there.”
“We found a handful of documents were filed in the wrong place,” Mr. Biden responded. “We immediately turned them over to the Archives and the Justice Department. We’re fully cooperating, looking forward to getting this resolved quickly. I think you’re gonna find there’s nothing there. I have no regrets. I’m following what the lawyers have told me they want me to do. That’s exactly what we’re doing. There’s no there there.”
The problem with Biden’s statement is that it doesn’t square with his administration’s actions. The instinctual response to stay quiet is understandable from a political perspective. It looks bad on the surface and why provide a new scandal days before the midterm elections? Then as time went on, the White House continued to stay quiet and only changed course slightly when reports of the ongoing investigation began leaking to the media.
The most likely answer is that Biden’s inner circle, perhaps including Joe Biden himself, knew there were more documents to be uncovered and, quite possibly, are afraid there may still be more to details to come out. In other words, if the administration talks too much, it risks incriminating itself.
Never fear, however, as the FBI or some other three-letter agency will be there to have Joe’s back. As James Bovard wrote this week in the New York Post, the investigation, so far, appears to be whitewash meant to keep Biden clean:
The appointment of a special counsel to investigate Biden’s classified-document violations could imperil the president’s survival. But Biden may be saved by the charades the FBI concocted to rescue Hillary Clinton.
But breaking news Tuesday night revealed the investigation may already be turning into a farce. Amazingly, the Justice Department is permitting Biden’s personal lawyers to control the evidence — without the FBI.
Federal law penalizes the removal or mishandling of classified documents via “gross negligence” by up to 10 years in prison. The number of clearly marked confidential documents discovered on Biden’s turfs is up to 20 — all of which were supposedly “inadvertently misplaced” (for at least six years), per White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.
It looks bad — but the FBI got Hillary out of a worse legal tar pit.
Bovard goes on to recount how the FBI had Hillary Clinton dead to rights on her misuse and abuse of a private email server to store classified information in a Denver apartment bathroom. There was a lot of “there there” yet Hillary skated free of any criminal penalties while anyone else working in the State Department whose name wasn’t “Clinton” would’ve been prosecuted and possibly imprisoned for far less.
There is plenty of “there there” or Biden’s inner circle wouldn’t have been so quiet about it. With the investigation into Hunter Biden and the corrupt Biden family business now getting underway, it’s reasonable to see the classified documents scandal dovetailing into a wider probe.
The drip, drip, drip of this story continues.
