Columns, Criminal law, Justice, Politics

The Immaculate Possession: Biden Defense is Fast Becoming Unsustainable

Below is my column at Fox.com on the most recent discovery of classified documents at one of the homes of President Joe Biden. Despite the latest discovery, allies like Sen. Chris Coons were on Sunday shows repeating his assurance that “there is no there there.” The insistence that the record clearly shows innocent “inadvertence” now borders on willful blindness as inadvertent possession occurs over and over again with documents from both Biden’s time as a senator and as vice president. A decade of inadvertence.

Here is the column:

President Biden seems to attract classified documents the way some people think motor homes attract tornadoes. They just inexplicably happen.

After Biden publicly declared that he has “no regrets” in the discovery of unlawfully stored classified material in various locations, he assured citizens that the special counsel investigation would soon peter out when they find that “there is no there there.”

Well, there turns out to be more there and the “there” is yet another find in a private residence of Joe Biden.

A search of Biden’s home in Wilmington on Friday found six new clearly marked classified documents, bringing the total to roughly 30 classified documents. The latest search came almost three months after the first discovery in a closet in a D.C. office.

Yet, the president and White House still maintain that all of these documents are merely the result of “inadvertent mishandling” and that Biden has no knowledge of their storage over the prior roughly six years. There is a point when “inadvertence” becomes so incredible as to be miraculous.

At the start of this scandal, I questioned the inadvertence claim in light of one simple fact. These classified documents were presumably removed in 2017 and yet they were divided and distributed to different locations. Those locations have now increased to at least four: the closet, garage, library, and the new location at the Wilmington residence. That suggests that they were transferred more than once and sent to different locations for a purpose.

The most obvious purpose is that Biden was working on a book that discussed some of the underlying subject matters like China and Ukraine. However, Biden insists that he never had knowledge or interaction with the documents.

In other words, these documents just miraculously seem to appear in every spot where Biden worked or lived over the last 10 years. He possessed them with no knowledge or intent. It is the immaculate possession . . . over and over again.

The use of FBI agents for this latest search stands in sharp contrast to prior searches and magnifies earlier questions of why the FBI reportedly declined an invitation to conduct the searches.

There is still no confirmation of where the documents were found in the residence or their level of classification.

The latest batch of documents easily establishes “gross mishandling” of classified material, the standard being investigated by the special counsel. The only question is who is responsible and President Biden portrays himself as a mere pedestrian “surprised” over and over again by the discovery of classified documents in his home. He is fast becoming the Claude Rains of presidents in feigning shock that there is handling of classified material in this establishment.

Biden’s worst critic, however, may be Biden.

In 1977, as senator from Delaware, Biden torpedoed President Jimmy Carter’s nominee for CIA director over his alleged mishandling of classified documents. As with the current scandal, Ted Sorensen was accused of having the documents for work on a book. The motive did not matter. Sen. Biden expressed his signature revulsion at the very thought of the possession.

President Jimmy Carter at the White House, April 7, 1980. (Library of Congress/Marion S. Trikosko/Handout via Reuters)

There was no evidence of ill intent, but Biden insisted that was not the issue. Biden argued that Sorensen could still be prosecuted under the Espionage Act and insisted the “real issue” during Sorensen’s confirmation hearing was “whether Mr. Sorensen intentionally took advantage of ambiguities in the law, or carelessly ignored the law.”

After all, Biden continued, “If he did so, can he now bring the activities of the intelligence community within the strict limits of the law? We will expect that in the future of intelligence agencies. If that is to be the case, then we must hold the director – DCI – accountable as well.”

Notably, some of the recently discovered classified documents may have been from Biden’s time as a senator — over ten years ago.

I have previously noted that Biden “has always been better at expressing revulsion than responsibility.” When it came to Sorensen, Biden could not imagine a rationalization for a nominee to excuse such mishandling of classified material, but as a president, “there is no there there.”

Biden has continued to make the case against himself with remarkable determination. His defense that some documents were housed in his “locked garage with my Corvette” may go down as one of the most imbecilic statements in modern political history. He then followed up with his “no regrets” comments (and his assurance of “no there there”) just before more classified documents were found “there.”

While special counsel do not mind defendants making fools of themselves, they do not want to join them in such public spectacles. In this investigation, the Biden defense is looking increasingly implausible in his claim of no knowledge or responsibility.

Indeed, if any witness or forensic evidence shows that Biden came into contact with any of these documents over the last 10 years, this dubious defense will take on a far more sinister appearance. It would establish not just intent and knowledge, but an effort to deceive the public and prosecutors.

Yet, even after the latest batch was found, Biden and allies like Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., are continuing to maintain that “there is no there there.” These continuing denials now border on willful blindness and the public reaction is likely to echo the president’s favorite tagline: “Come on, man.”

187 thoughts on “The Immaculate Possession: Biden Defense is Fast Becoming Unsustainable”

  1. “In 1977, as senator from Delaware, Biden torpedoed President Jimmy Carter’s nominee for CIA director over his alleged mishandling of classified documents”

    In fact, many Senators — both Republicans and Democrats — objected to Sorensen, and the reasons weren’t limited to mishandling of classified docs. For example, at the time, the NYT said that Sen. Morgan (D-NC) “based his objection on a belief that Mr. Sorensen had not been candid with the intelligence committee when he testified that President Kennedy had been unaware of C.I.A. plots to assassinate Fidel Castro” (https://www.nytimes.com/1977/02/02/archives/the-rejection-of-sorensen-a-drama-of-human-failing-in-rare-defeat.html). They also noted that by Sorensen’s own count in a sworn affidavit, “he took 67 boxes of documents, letters and other material from the White House when he left in 1964 and that they included seven boxes of “classified” information,” so it’s not particularly comparable to what’s currently known about Biden.

    Laws change. What Sorensen did was apparently legal at the time but would be illegal today. Time will tell whether either Biden or Trump get charged, and if so, with what.

  2. I think Joe Biden has “no regrets” because He’s does not care about the Presidency anymore.
    He’s got his trophy and now He wants to go home, impeached or not, all he cared about was becoming “President”.
    Same can be said for Kamala Harris truthfully.

    I read it once before: They wanted the Wedding but not the Marriage. SO there you have it (Pres. Biden’s) – “no regrets”, get me outta here if you want, I’ve got mine. It is What it Is, Because I am What I am. DONE!

    1. Chris Coons is one of the Democrats that pretend to be moderate and then vote for every left wing bill that arises. He is also the pretend-moderate type that guys like Bret Baier, who I watch and like, let ramble on their shows to the detriment of the nation. Coons sold his own daughter out after she was mugged by Biden on tv. Coons talks a good game but he is another snake.

    2. Thank you Econ, I have been screaming that for two days now. It is SIX ITEMS CONTAINING DOCUMENTS, not six documents. Why can’t people learn to parse what a leftist says at all time?

  6. >> The most obvious purpose is that Biden was working on a book that discussed some of the underlying subject matters like China and Ukraine. <<

    It has now been reported that some of the classified documents stolen by Biden date to his time in the Senate. So more about 15 years ago. And your theory is he stole those documents as reference material for a book? Second, relying on classified documents as reference material for a book seems like a big risk in "accidentally" publishing classified material. Hard to believe the bureaucratic regularoty state allows that. Third, the idea that a known serial plagarist who graduated near the bottom of his law school class even has the skills to write a coherent book seems like an unreasonable assumption. So he'd have to hire a professional ghostwriter with a security clearance. Yet this ghostwriter has not yet completed the book in 15 years?

    I must be missing something. Because your explanation for why Biden stole the documents does not make logical sense to me.

    1. Your objections are all valid. But they do not make it illogical that Biden had the documents for a book.

      That is probably the single most common reason for ranking officials to be caught with classified docs.

      Why would he have had to have a cleared ghost writer ? Petreaus did not.

  7. Is the 1977 example the only one JT could find to support his narrative that Biden is his worst critic? Also, I understand that some people here dislike Klain and Harris, but why refer to them as Comrade Klain and Kommie Harris? I have never heard JT refer to them that way.

    1. People are perplexed why you do not use your true sock puppet handle CCP troll.

      Thoughts?

      Thanking you ahead for your thoughtful response

    2. I have never heard JT use the names those on the left use for those on the right, yet posters here do it all the time.

    1. They cannot spin enough ‘first black woman’ crap propaganda and nonsense lies to get the country to accept a Kommie Harris presidency. She is THAT bad.

      1. Harris does not need to win an election to become president if Biden is forced out.

    2. THANK YOU, Prof. Turley.. for bringing out the sheer Ludicrousness of Biden and his excuses, and his strategy of having his own lawyers ‘selectively’ ‘find’ Classified Documents, without any official involvement of other witnesses..Classified Docs whose whereabouts he claims were unbeknownst to him… ‘Immaculate Possession’ spot on.. Is Biden banking on the Media to convince the American people that they are stupid enough not to hold Biden unaccountable for all the very same things Biden said about anyone and everyone else who has had Classifed Docs in their possession…?.

  9. Here’s a much better column about this: https://www.emptywheel.net/2023/01/22/what-we-cant-rule-out-with-bidens-classified-documents/ — in particular, the table “Here’s a comparison of what we know of the two cases: …”
    As she notes, “The voluntary nature with which Biden has given information back to DOJ still starkly distinguishes him from Trump.” It would be great if all the former Presidents invited the DOJ to do voluntary searches of all of their residences, but I won’t hold my breath.

    “A search of Biden’s home in Wilmington on Friday found six new clearly marked classified documents, bringing the total to roughly 30 classified documents.”

    The total is closer to 20. Perhaps JT is confusing some pages with documents.

    1. I see it as completely different from your scenario. If we are to believe at all in NARA and originating security-office chain-of-custody followup, either someone found documents and advised Biden to control the mess, -or NARA/originating offices finally caught up with themselves and realized something was missing, -or Biden on his own realized that he was in deep kimchi. Hence, the subsequent and very controlled narrative and over-the-top media-highlighted “voluntary” cooperation and invitations for FBI/departmental followup.
      Funny that the govt and media kept accusing Trump and Republicans of comparative “whataboutism” -yet that is all we are hearing/reading/viewing on MSM.

      1. I don’t see how any of that changes the fact that this FBI search was voluntary whereas the FBI search of MaL was not.

          2. It’s certainly possible, but we do not know that, and people shouldn’t pretend that conjectures are knowledge (e.g., “Biden consented to a search knowing that, if he did not, newly appointed special counsel Robert Hur would apply for a judicial warrant from a federal judge”).

            What would be the probable cause for the warrant affidavit? McCarthy doesn’t say. In Trump’s case, there’s a redacted section titled “There is Probable Cause to Believe That Documents Containing Classified NDI and Presidential Records Remain at the Premises”

            1. Biden’s legal team knew it was coming to having the FBI look for documents, so why not agree? You look like you are cooperating. You can liken it to the police outside your door saying ‘let us in, or we will knock it down’, They are coming in one way or another.

          4. Andrew MacCarthy excellent as ever.
            Pretty much covered everything.
            This is a mess for Both Biden and Garland.

            Their efforts to try to paint this as cooporative are actually undermining them.

        2. Trump allowed the fbi in and allowed the fbi to secure the documents.

          Progressives are such ignorant clowns.

          1. Trump did NOT “allow the fbi to secure the documents” prior to the search, at which point he had no choice. The FBI told Trump to properly secure them: “As I previously indicated to you, Mar-a-Lago does not include a secure location authorized for the storage of classified information. As such, it appears that since the time classified documents were removed from the secure facilities at the White House and moved to Mar-a-Lago on or around January 20, 2021, they have not been handled in an appropriate manner or stored in an appropriate location. Accordingly, we ask that the room at Mar-a-Lago where the documents had been stored be secured and that all of the boxes that were moved from the White House to Mar-a-Lago (along with any other items in that room) be preserved in that room in their current condition until farther notice.”

            The DOJ also noted in its affidavit that “the FBI agents and DOJ attorney were permitted to visit the storage room. Critically, however, the former President’s counsel explicitly prohibited government personnel from opening or looking inside any of the boxes that remained in the storage room,” and they “were allowed only a brief view of the storage room and were expressly told that they could not open any boxes to review their contents.”

            1. Deception and lies. Last discussion Trump invited the FBI back.The FBI searched, and it is their problem they didn’t find what they wanted the first time.

              The files were declassified by Trump. If they disagree, take Trump to court. They didn’t. Instead They illegally raided MAL under the guise of an affidavit that to date is incomplete and ridiculous.

              You keep harping on the facility the records were kept. Are all of Obama’s files more or less secure than those at MAL? A warehouse area is not as secure as MAL whether approved or not. Approvals do not mean security though you hang your hat on all those empty assertions.

              ““were allowed only a brief view of the storage room and were expressly told that they could not open any boxes to review their contents.”

              They took the boxes, so stop the BS.

            2. “Trump did NOT “allow the fbi to secure the documents” prior to the search”
              The FBI asked for another lock on a storage fascility that was perfectly acceptable as a SCIF not long before.
              They did as the FBI asked

              For native english speakers that is “securing the documents”

              “at which point he had no choice.”
              Of course they had a choice.
              The documents were perfectly safe – in a SCIF, not a foreign funded think tank.
              They were in the control of an ex-president – who is by Executive order allowed to have any classified information they wish.

              It remains to this date unestablished that the documents in question are not declassified.

              “The FBI told Trump to properly secure them: “As I previously indicated to you, Mar-a-Lago does not include a secure location authorized for the storage of classified information.”
              And you previously indicated incorrectly.
              The location the documets were found at MAL had not changed in anyway from 2020 when it was inarguably sufficiently secure.

              “As such, it appears that since the time classified documents were removed from the secure facilities at the White House and moved to Mar-a-Lago on or around January 20, 2021,”
              We do not know that – but assuming that was the case – such a move is legal. Further if the president ACTUALLY ordered the documents moved from a secure fascility in the WH to somewhere insecure – they are automatically declassified.
              That is how that works.

              The only way these documents remain classified – based on YOUR claims, if if the fascility they were moved to at MAL IS SECURE.

              “they have not been handled in an appropriate manner or stored in an appropriate location.”
              False.

              “The DOJ also noted in its affidavit that “the FBI agents and DOJ attorney were permitted to visit the storage room. Critically, however, the former President’s counsel explicitly prohibited government personnel from opening or looking inside any of the boxes that remained in the storage room,” and they “were allowed only a brief view of the storage room and were expressly told that they could not open any boxes to review their contents.””

              So ? They had been previously searched TWICE, and they were stored in a SCIF.

              We are dealing with an office of the FBI that has long reputation for lying on warrants.
              And we are dealing with statements by those agents that are FALSE ON THEIR FACES.

        3. How do you know Biden was not told, explicitly or implicitly, that if he didn’t allow the search they would get a warrant?

          1. What an odd question. I don’t know that, nor is there a way I could know that, nor did I suggest that I do or could know that.

            It’s still a fact that Biden allowed them to search without a search warrant, and Trump did not.

            1. He couldn’t stop them since they could get a warrant. And then the publicity would be bad. I don’t see why Biden should get credit for allowing something he could not stop and that in the end would make him look worse.

              1. Neither of us knows whether there was probable cause for a warrant.

                If you think there was probable cause, please say what it is.

                There’s a section addressing the probable cause in the affidavit for the MaL search, though it’s mostly redacted. Media reported that there was a Trump employee witness (maybe that’s accurate, maybe not).

                1. “though it’s mostly redacted. “

                  Don’t you at least suspicions why the redactions occurred rather than the silly reasons normally offered? By this time the affidavit should be visible to all, but the dishonest still wish to keep it hidden.

                2. “If you think there was probable cause, please say what it is.”

                  I understand you are studying our Constitutional Republic. Good for you, but must we all remind you that there is a third branch, the judiciary? Maybe you haven’t gotten to that part. That is where the fight should be played out, but you haven’t divorced yourself from the dictatorships you admire.

            2. You hang your hat on meaningless statements. If an official government agency were to certify that 2+2=5, you would immediately agree. You need to start thinking.

          2. If Biden did not know that was what would happen – he is a moron – but that is possible.
            If DOJ did not get a warrant if Biden had refused – Garland should be impeached.

            This was all done as a very bad effort at spin control that has blown up in their faces.

              1. How about negligent handling of documents and retaining classified documents the Vice President is not supposed to have.

                Alternatively, serve the warrant and produce an affidavit where most of the information is blacked out.

              2. Really ? That is pretty trivial. After the recovery of improperly stored classified documents from the Biden Center, the DOJ/FBI have probable case to look througout Biden properties for classified documents.

                The FACT that the BC document had to have been illegally moved, and MUST have been somewhere else previously is probable cause to look for the somewhere else and possible documents there.

                There is MORE probable case than at MAL.
                We have no certainty the MAL documents were classified.
                Even if they were – a move from the WH to the SCIF at MAL is legal and would not violate any laws.

                But the Biden docs had to have been moved – that is a crime.

                1. No judge would accept that as probable cause, just like they wouldn’t accept Trump’s improper storage at MaL as probable cause to search his other properties.

                  1. And yet they did.

                    MAL was not improperly stored.
                    As is Typical the FBI lied on an affadavit involving Trump.
                    Blatantly.
                    Storage in an ex-presidents office and a SCIF is not improper.
                    The agents knew that.

                    There is not a judge in the country that would not have given the FBI a warrant after TS/SCI documents were found at Biden Center.

                    There are a dozen differences between MAL and Biden Center.
                    But the simplest is that there is no possible legal way for Classified docs to be at Biden Center without a crime being committed.
                    And there are dozens of ways for them to be withing Trump’s ex-presidential Offices legally.

                    A warrant requires probable cause that a crime was committed. BC is absolute proof of a crime.

                    While we all know that Biden will not ever be prosecuted, That does not change the fact there was Probable cause for a search.

                    1. The FBI disagrees with you — in a statement to the court — that “MAL was not improperly stored.”

                      You claim that ” the FBI lied on an affadavit involving Trump,” but apparently you cannot quote the “lie” and provide evidence that it’s a lie. Your word is worthless to me (though it presumably has value to you and perhaps some other people).

                      There was no post-presidency SCIF at MaL.

                      What you, personally, consider “proper” is irrelevant. The FBI stated in a court document — and earlier in a letter to Trump’s attorneys — that the docs were not properly secured, and I’ll take their court statements over your personal belief.

                      You believe “There is not a judge in the country that would not have given the FBI a warrant after TS/SCI documents were found at Biden Center,” but you cannot — and certainly have not — prove(d) it true. It is a religious belief on your end, where you have faith in its truth in the absence of evidence.

                      I won’t bother with the rest of your religious beliefs.

                    2. You are free to believe what you believe but the DOJ has acted politically, and it is up to you to prove in court all these contentions. You support the use of force rather than the judicial system. That is how dictatorships act.

                    3. “You claim that ” the FBI lied on an affadavit involving Trump,” but apparently you cannot quote the “lie” and provide evidence that it’s a lie.”
                      Really ? Are you this Clueless ?

                      Klinesmith has pelad guilty to altering a CIA email that was included as Part of the Carter Page FISA Warrant.
                      That alteration change the email from saying that Carter PAge was a CIA asset. to Carter PAge was NOT a CIA asset.

                      That is a huge lie. It is nto th only lie in the FISA Warrant. Nor is Klinesmith the only person aware of that lie and many others.
                      About half a dozen people signed off under oath that the information in the Varter Page Warrant application was the truth.

                      It was NOT – and there is mountains of evidence they KNEW it was not at the time the affadavits were signed.

                      Even Mueller himself is complicit in this.

                      Further even those agents who did not sign the Carter Page warrant application – but were involved in the investigation – all were aware of the claims in the warrant application. Dozens of times a Day they would have encountered facts and evidence that they information in the Affadavit was False. Every agent int eh office had a duty of candor to the court to reveal the false claims of the Carter Page Warrant application every single time they were confronted with FACTS demonstating that any portion of the affadavit was false.

                      Those of you an the left – and obviously the FBI agents involved in this have no idea what actual morality is.

                      You seem to beleive that once you have managed to obtain permission to engage in the actions you wish to do,
                      that you have no duty to stop and inform the court when the sworn facts on which that permission was based prove false.

                      If Klinesmith was the only agent who falsified evidence in the Carter Page Affadavit. Every single agent in the entire investigation still had a duty to come forward the moment they discovered that misrepresentation.

                      I am NOT claiming that one or two agents in the DC Field office LIED or is CORRUPT.
                      All or nearly all of them are.

                      And these are the same ones running the MAL investigation.

                      The claim produced here by an agent that the MAL room containing classified information was “insecure” – is another example of a LIE.
                      It was unchanged except for the additional lock the FBI asked for frokm the time when Trump was president.
                      It was still protected by the Secret Service.

                      It was exactly as secure as it had been when Trump was president.

                      Saying that it was now insecure is called LYING.

                      It is misleading the court, It is not quite as big a lie as that of Klinesmith – but a LIE nonetheless.

                    4. So now you move the goalposts from “the FBI lied on an affadavit involving Trump” to “Klinesmith has pelad guilty to altering a CIA email that was included as Part of the Carter Page FISA Warrant.” You present zero evidence that the Page affidavit even mentioned Trump.

                      “The claim produced here by an agent that the MAL room containing classified information was “insecure” – is another example of a LIE.”

                      You put the word “insecure” in quotation marks. But the affidavit does not contain the word “insecure.” YOU are the one lying here about what the FBI agent actually said in the affidavit.

                      Yet again, you are sloppy with details.

                    5. The agent lied in the Affadavit regarding Trump.

                      He said the Storage at MAL was not secure.
                      It was secure enough to be used when Trump was president.
                      It did not change in the intervenining months.

                      Saying that something that was acceptable at one time is not acceptable at another when nothing has changed – is LYING.

                    6. And BTW the Carter Page Warrant was inarguable a Warrant about Trump.
                      So no goal post moving at all.

                      The entire Country spent 3+ years chasing your Trump delussions, with the Carter Page FISA warrant at the center of that.

                      Are YOU Truying to say that the Alpha Bank Hoax, the nonsense with Papaduplous, the Steele Dossier were not about Trump ?

                      The FBI – the same office and many of the same agents. presented the steele dossier with myriads of allegations ABOUT TRUMP,
                      as evident to the FISA Court – yet we now know – and Two Juries have decided that the FBI KNEW that ALL of this was a collection of lies and Hoaxes – BEFORE they offered it to the FISA court.

                      It is not lying to present as truth to a court evidence that you KNOW is a HOAX ?

                      Are you actually going to argue that the Carter Page FISA warrant was not “about Trump” – that the Lies withing the warrant application were not lies ABOUT TRUMP ?

                      No moving the goal posts at all.

                      The MAL Affadavit is not the first time the FBI has been caught lying ABOUT TRUMP.

                      And if we count the thousands of phony leaks to the press – it is not just a few lies ABOUT TRUMP, it is YEARS of LIES, by this office of the FBI ABOUT TRUMP.

                      In my state the State AG keeps a list of police officers whose veracity to the court – in Warrant applications, and prior testimony is suspected to have been deceptive. The AG and most DA’s will not allow those officiers to testify.

                      And the Standard is NOT caught in a bald faced lie. It is likely deceived the court in the past – including on warrant applications.

                    7. “You present zero evidence that the Page affidavit even mentioned Trump.”

                      Do you live in the real world ?
                      Is this something I actually need to explain to you ?

                      You do know that the Steele Dossier ABOUT TRUMP was part of the Carter-Page FISA Warrant application and Affadavit,
                      And that agents swore in that affadavit that to their knowledge and beleif the evidence contained was true.

                      They did this DESPITE knowing Before they received the Steele Dossier that is was a HOAX.

                      Did you just arrive here from Mars ?

                    8. From the Afadavit “Mar-A-Lago does not contain a secure location for the storage of classified information”

                      And yet it did in 2020, and nothing about that location has changed.

                      Sounds alot like a lie to me.

                      I would also note that Warrants are exparte legal processes – that means only one party gets to make an argument.
                      Warrant applications are One Sided

                      Therefore there is an actual legal duty on those requesting the warrant to a HIGH standard of candor to the courts.

                      Put more simply, “Spining” to the court is the same as lying. You can not present an affadavit in the light most favorable to your request and ommit informationt that you know that would undermine your request. That would be unethical, and illegal.

                      It is immoral unethical and illegal to use a warrant to gain possession, when you can go to court to accomplish the same goal.

                      Warrants must allege CRIMES – not “I want something back”. Not something that can be resolved in Civil court.

                      It is self evident from the handling of the Biden docs that the FBI did not need a Warrant at MAL.
                      Or they would have gotten one for Biden’s docs.

                      Biden’s docs are smeared accross 2 states, and in insecure locations with secuity no better than a garage door lock
                      Yet the same FBI considered that safe enough they did not neet a warrant – despite blundering arround searching for 3 months.

                      There was no pressing need for a Warrant with Trump.
                      The FBI was welcome at MAL.
                      They had been their twice before.
                      They had been given what they asked.
                      They asked for an got an additional lock – if they thought that was not enough – they could have asked for more.
                      If they thought Trump was not cooperative – they could have sought a court order.

                      But we all know why they did not seek a court order – Because they would not have gotten it.

                      Instead they bent the truth to an Article II magistrate to get a Warrant they did not need.

                      Can you say “Political Stunt” ?

                      Can you say “Abuse of power” ?

                      Can you say massive hypocracy ?

                      You can expect this to feature prominitly in attack adds against Biden should he decide to run in 2024.

        4. None of this was “voluntary”.

          Biden’s lawyers had two choices when they found classified docs at Biden Center – Contact law enforcement or committ a crime.

          As to Biden’s homes etc. once docs were found at Biden center – these were going to be searched – either with a warrant or without.
          Either By Biden’s lawyers – if DOJ was stupid or without. Regardless the search was happening.

          Frankly the way it was handled was actually a mistake. DOJ/FBI looks bad, they have given amunition to house republicans for double standards. Biden’s lawyers are now witnesses, and arguably have comitted crimes – even though they are not going to be charged.

          I fully expect a search of the Udel Biden senate archive next.
          No matter how that is done – voluntary is not the right word.

          A search is not voluntary just because you did not force FBI to get a warrant they would easily be able to do.

          Democrats do not want a warrant that reads like the MAL warrant.

          Regardless, this was handled badly. From the first BC docs forward – the FBI should have conducted the search.
          That would have been more proper and actually less harmful to Biden.

          Now if the FBI gets sucked in – such as searching Udel.
          That makes it look like “the walls are closing in”

      2. I understand what you are saying – but frankly NO scenario makes sense.

        The most plausible explanation for me is that Biden directed his Biden Center office to be cleared.
        That he did not conceive of the possibility that classified material might be found by those moving things.
        I am still not completely clear that Biden Lawyers were actually doing the moving.
        I have heard that whoever was moving materials called the lawyers who called NARA who called DOJ.

        Regardless. I do not beleive the discover was a plot. I do not beleive Biden was trying to clean up his own mess – atleast not until AFTER documents were uncovered.

        I do beleive that Biden MIGHT have beleived that those that work for him would have covered this up – if he remembered that classified documents were in Biden Center.

        Regardless, I beleive the “trigger” for this was that whoever was moving the documents from Biden Center found classified documents and did not ignore them, and worried more about their own personal ass than Biden’s or the interests of the democratic party.

        Once the first report reached NARA the train was in motion and could not be stopped.

        Absolutely the spin meisters have been working overtime to mitigate damages – and that includes people in NARA, DOJ, FBI.
        In fact I beleive some of those efforts to mitigate damages have made things worse.

        The compare and contrast over the treatment of Biden and Trump is a very bad look for all involved.

        The media was perfectly capable of spinning the “Biden cooperated” non-sense – as if no one accused is ever allowed to claim innocence, even if FBI “quietly” raded Biden’s DE home.

        Instead they have amplified the h311 out of the double standards argument, and the biased FBI/DOJ argument.

        All that said Biden is not in deep schiff, and that is because the deep state, the media, and democrats increasingly do not have his back.

        My expectation is that democrats are placing enormous pressure on him to announce he is not running in 2024.
        That will turn him into a lame duck, and remove the focus from him for the next 2 years and give Democrats the most time to find a replacement.

        That also weakens Trump the most, and blunts house republicans investigations.

        1. Biden had his records near the Corvette. How come for all these years he didn’t notice them?

          1. I do not know why he did not notice the guy he gave the purple heart to was dead.

            Please do not ask me to explain Biden’s thoughts.

            Regardless. I would advise not attributing to malice what can be explained by incompetence.

            Finally someone linked an absolutely fantaxtic analysis by Andrew MacCarthy.

            That is far better than my own.

    2. I have not bothered with your link – it is obvious from your own comments it is not worth looking at.

      The Biden cooperated claim was meaningless from the start – it is dead now. It is almost 3 months since the 1st papers were found.

      If Biden was cooperating AND competent, all would have been recovered in a day or two.
      The FBI spent about 15hrs raiding Trump.

      It is increasingly evident with Biden that:
      These are all over the place – NOT stored securely – not in a presidential office or in a SCIF.

      Your spin is running out of momentum.

      Given that we now have documents from Biden’s senate days – more than 10 years ago.
      Biden has been mishandling classified documents for a decade.

      It is likely that Biden’s Udel archives will be raided next.

      The odds of Biden being prosecuted, impeached, or resigning over this are near zero.

      But TWO things are likely:

      The Trump investigation is effectively dead.
      Biden’s 2024 campaign is dead, and Democrats – not republicans are going to take him out – quietly if possible.

      Biden is likely under enormous and growing Democratic pressure to announce he is not Running in 2024 – ASAP.

      That will immediately make him a lame duck. It will neuter the Hunter Biden and Classified Docs’ stories.

      It will increase the odds of Biden, Republicans, and Democrats in congress actually working together on SOME issues.
      And it will likely disempower the far left woke millenials in the Biden regime.

      1. “The voluntary nature with which Biden has given information back to DOJ still starkly distinguishes him from Trump.”

        The first tranche of documents were found when Biden sent lawyers to do a moving and cleaning operation. It is clear Lawyers were used because Biden was fully aware of Classified documents there. Biden ordered them moved from were ever he had them when moved from his Vice President Office. That eliminated the inadvertence defense. ,
        When they “found” the documents, very first call to the White House, not the DoJ A day later, a call to the National Archives, not the DoJ, Then the National Archives involves their Inspector General, Not the DoJ.
        Actions not words, contradicts the apologists narrative.

        1. We still don’t know why the lawyers were originally sent to move and clean, do we?

        2. “It is clear” = you are guessing

          “very first call to the White House, not the DoJ”

          And when Trump’s lawyers found documents, who did they contact first?

          1. Why would Trump lawyers call anybody.
            The only thing happening at MaL is a PRA documents negotiation. “marked classified” scam is meaningless.
            I notice the Reporting of Bidens discovery never trots out the “marked classified” verbiage.

        3. iowan2: “tranche.” What a good word, thanks for keeping our brains stimulated!
          (bad weather here all week, it’s been fun fooling around on the PC and reading comments.)
          When you mention what you see as starting it all (“the first tranche”), I think of the “fruit of the poisonous tree” adage (NOT applicable here, but makes me think what sequelae follows/what might we later learn…)

        4. While it is possible that Biden ordered the docs moved from Biden Center to hide the fact that he was illegally in posession of Classified docs.

          That is an assumption – maybe a reasonable one. But we have no evidence of that. What we know is we have no good explanation of what started this. And the lack of good explanations is reason to speculate about bad ones.

          Trump has actually provided explanations for his actions “The docs are not classified”.
          You can challenge that explanation, but it has not actually been refuted.
          Trump has not offered lame excuses, and he has behaved from start to now as if the docs are not classifed.

          Trump’s defense is a serious problem for prosecution.
          Presidents have the power to declassify.
          It is possible that Trump can prove these are declassified – as an example if they are collusion delusion documents.
          But even if he can not, it will be very hard for DOJ to prove beyond a reasonable doubt they are not declassified.
          The president may not be able to declassify telepathically. But there are many other ways he can.
          While everyone would prefer there was a record, it is not a requirement.

        1. It was a great post as usual and very complete, but he didn’t tell us who would be running for President in 2024. :-):-):-)

        2. Someone linked an Andrew MacCarthy article – I had not read that when I posted.
          That is much better.
          I beleive it makes every argument I made – and then some, and it made them better than I did.

          Regardless, this is blowing up on joe – slowly, but it is still blowing up.

          And most importantly – it is his allies that are slowly turning on him.

    3. “The voluntary nature with which Biden has given information back to DOJ still starkly distinguishes him from Trump.”
      10 years playing hide the loot is not voluntary.

  10. We are well aware that the biden family is unsustainable in every way. We are going to have to endure this farce because the media will not expose the truth of the matter. Until enough citizens stand up and demand this prog/left farce to cease, we will never reclaim our nation.

  11. While all of these findings are serious crimes and the people know of the serious consequences sooner or later, this casts upon this country rather it be Bush, Biden, Obama, Regan (which they each did) and Trump, and with all the conversations Congress, Senate, other Departments of Justice, including the highest of courts nothing will be done. Even impeachment will not occur in time (even if it is to occur, which it will not), Biden will grant his son a presidential pardon, and Hunter can not be prosecuted. All of this will die down to a degree that will go by the wayside, only to occur again in the future. No one in government truly can afford to make the changes necessary because then they themselves will face the consequences for the crimes they have done. When Biden said they were part of the elites years ago, he was not kidding, and no matter the crimes, the elites do not and will not face.

  12. “The Immaculate Possession: Biden Defense is Vast Becoming Unsustainable”

    – Professor Turley
    ______________

    2020 – “Laptop”: Not bad.

    2022 – “Classified “there” there: Bad.

    2024 – New Deep Deep State “Swamp” President Ensconced
    _________________________________________________

    The Deep Deep State “Swamp” “…[cried] ‘Havoc!’ and let slip the dogs of war.”

    The main stream media, restrained in 2020, were deliberately “let slip” on the “there” that is there at the outset of this election cycle.

    The Deep Deep State “Swamp” will soon introduce its new “president” to be ensconced in 2024.

    The MSM is to begin shaping public opinion and defining the Deep Deep State “Swamp’s” new candidate as an unassailable, compassionate, humanistic and eminently capable deity.

    A deity for all of the people (not the Constitution, mind you).

  13. “Biden publicly declared that…’there is no there there.’”

    – Professor Turley
    ______________

    Ron Klain knows there’s there there.

    Comrade Ron Klain, after beginning with Comrade Ed Markey in 1983 and progressively destroying constitutional America with various and sundry other communist leaders for his entire “career” in American communist party politics, is ending his stint with General Secretary and Dear Leader Joke Buyden.

    Of course, this was a “decision” made prior to the mid-term.

    Comrade Klain pulled the rip-cord yesterday.

    Old Comrade Ron knows “there” when he sees it.

    The communist governmental structure in America, aka the Deep Deep State “Swamp,” may have a chink in its armor.

    1. Excellent point.

      If Joseph Biden were to take a standard cranial nerve examination, he would likely fail it. One wonders if Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the House, placed a call to the CCP to alert them that Biden was no where near the nuclear football, and that standing orders had been provided to the US military to ignore any directive given by Biden.

  15. Love your e-news but am concerned about the editing of many of your pieces. For instance, this headline should be “fast becoming” — not “vast becoming” (which doesn’t mean anything). “Vastly becoming” means extremely attractive. “Fast becoming” (with the “ly” ending) is the meaning you’re going for, I believe. As I said, I really appreciate your messaging but the grammatical errors tend to distract from your brilliance.

    1. Amen sister! I am no grammarian, and Jonathan Turley is far smarter than me, but some of his errors suggest that he might want to think about hiring someone to do a quick preview of everything he posts. There are also free sites to which he could place his posts and receive free constructive criticism. As a longtime fan, I have great respect for the man, and his silly errors do not diminish that, but a few touchups here and there would do wonders to improve his site.

      1. Rilaly and Kathleen Wiley,
        I disagree! Let’s let the professor do his blog his way. I appreciate his posts so much that I don’t care if he writes his headlines in frickin’ Pig Latin! They would still be 100 times better than any blog or published column that you’d read anywhere else.

  16. Biden has always been a serial liar, so it’s no surprise that he’s now lying about these documents. The more cynical among us think this is the work of the Democrats, and that documents will continue to be “found” until Biden publicly states he will not run again. The Democrats are giving him a chance to exit the 2024 race, but if he’s as pig-headed as he’s always been, he may not take it. In that case, the Dems may have to escalate.

    1. I highly doubt documents have been planted.

      That said, I do think that once the first ones had been found, Democrats in power realize – they are in Trouble in 2024.
      That Biden can not win, and that he must get out of the way NOW, if Democrats are to have any hope.

      And of course more documents will be found.

      The document found from his Senate days means that his Udel archives will likely now be searched.

      Biden is in trouble now because the media, Social Media, and the deep state are not going to protect him.
      Not because of anything Republicans might do.

      It is also of critical importance to democrats for him to bow out now.

      Contrat the public drumpbeat – we have a recession coming, and it is unlikely to be pleasant.

      It is far better for democrats to go into 2024 with Biden as a lame duck, without a recession and inflation arround the neck of their presidential candidate.

        1. Because the trends are going against them. Democrats are losing ground in nearly every single demographic.

          Mailin voting gave them a bump. But a bump is not a trend.
          Fraud gives them a bump – same problem.

          Because everytime you lie or get caught in a F#$K up – you lose more people for good.

          Because every single time you cheat you risk getting caught, and the bigger you cheat the more likely you get caught.

          I do not know if Democrats will cheat again in 2024.
          We will still be stuck with:
          Biased media
          Some censorship – though likely less.
          Some government meddling – though likely less.
          Mailin voting.
          Ballot harvesting.
          Some fraud.

          But we will have two more years of Biden failure
          Two more years of lies come home to roost.

          Many of the claims made to win in 2020 and 2022 will not fly in 2024.

    2. Gio, you make some good points but please forget the planted theory. Please explain which Democrat put Biden’s old documents in his garage next to his vette. It doesn’t seem possible now does it? Biden is a crook, his son was passing secret and valuable information to the CCP and Ukraine and that is why the docs are there.

  17. Whoops! Your article might be excellent — I admit I haven’t read it yet — but isn’t that a big typo in your headline? Did you really mean “Vast Becoming Unsustainable” , or was that supposed to be “Fast Becoming Unsustainable”?

    1. Lyndon Olson: First time on this site? Don’t bother calling out the typos — they’re part of Turley’s charm. You’ll get used to them.

  18. Biden is a long-time liar and plagiarist. The evidence is is very substantial and clear. The media has been pushing lies for years now on behalf of the Democrat Party. And now many other democrats are clearly voicing more misinformation and lies. When is enough, enough? When will even the most ardent democrat supporters recognize this and how it damages any truthfulness?

  20. This all points to one thing – Biden is patently dishonest. Personally, having once held a very high security clearance, I don’t understand how he came in possession of classified documents in the first place. I don’t know about government, but in the military classified documents were ALWAYS kept in secure locations under lock. They in the charge of the classified materials officer who kept them in a locked safe. We were required to read “the classifieds” periodically. When we did so, we went to the classifieds officer and he opened the safe, took the documents out and we read them at a table in his office after signing for them. When we finished, we signed them back in and returned them to the officer who then put them back in the safe. NO ONE in government should EVER take a classified document home, NOT EVER. In Trump’s case, he claims he had declassified the documents by his authority as president. Biden had no such authority at the time he took those documents in his possession. The man is a liar and he should be impeached for the crime of mishandling of classified documents.

    1. Increasingly the problem is NOT Biden’s mishandling of classified documents.

      We are rapidly getting to the point were event he lefts stupid standard that Trump “obstructed” the recovery of classified documents is falling apart.

      Not getting caught for decades is itself its own form of reckless and obstructive conduct.

      You note that Trump continues to maintain innocence – to claim the documents are no longer classified.

      It is also now over 2 months since the first docs were found.
      We are past “cooperating”
      If Biden was “cooperating” all classified docs would have been recovered in a few days – not 3 months.

      It is highly likely the next step is a raid of Biden’s Udel Senate documents.

      Biden’s options are rapidly collapsing to
      Incompetence
      or obstruction and the hoe that further documents would not be found.

      DOJ/FBI have given Biden kid glove treatment, and the WH continues to argue “cooperating”

      Cooperation means telling DOJ/FBI anywhere that classified documets MIGHT be found on Day one, and recovering them shortly after.

      It is not evident whether Biden is hiding further classified document troves. or he just does not remember.

      It does nto matter – both disqualify him from being president.

    2. We are rapidly approachine the point where Democrats must ask Biden to resign or atleast announce he is not runnign in 2024, because he can not get re-elected, and because so long as Biden remains president they have no weapons against Trump.

      I do not know what will happen – except that Democrats need Biden out of the 2024 election quickly, as they need alot of time to build a credible democratic candidate other than Biden.

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