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.”
Jonathan Turley is a J#ck#ss. Can you believe how he blows hot and cold with these classified doc findings?
Trump had docs. Turley: “No biggie!”
Biden had docs. Turley: “OMG OMG it’s the bigliest biggie ever!!!”
Pence had docs. Turley: “No biggie, everyone does it!”
Jonathan, simply STFU, please.
You’re not very bright are you.
Are you normally lacking in reading comprehension, imagining what others are thinking? Turley has said no such thing — he is explaining some of the issues with Biden’s hypocrisy, and his unbelievable excuses a la “it’s not the crime but the coverup”.
“While campaigning in Des Moines, Iowa, for the U.S. presidency in August 2019, former Vice President Joe Biden said, “We choose truth over facts.”
If Democrat voters swallowed that fatuous twaddle, why wouldn’t they buy the “innocent inadvertence” defense?
“Against stupidity we have no defense. Neither protests nor force can touch it. Reasoning is of no use. Facts That Contradict Personal Prejudices Can Simply Be Disbelieved — indeed, the fool can counter by criticizing them, and if they are undeniable, they can just be pushed aside as trivial exceptions. So the fool, as distinct from the scoundrel, is completely self-satisfied. In fact, they can easily become dangerous, as it does not take much to make them aggressive.” Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Outstanding quote!
And Hunter miraculously quotes details from these classified documents, in emails to business partners. Joe allowed Hunter access, so he could profit financially for the family.
There are multiple people currently doing jail time for lesser offenses in their handling of top secret information; but I’m not holding my breath on seeing Biden behind bars, as usual he’ll get to enjoy the benefits of the double standard.
Another J#ck#ss commentator here. No politician goes to jail for finding classified documents in their home. Not Trump, not Biden, not Pence. Trump, however, tried to block FBI from having them. Obstruction is a more serious charge.
Leaving a decision to the court system is not obstructionism, unless you are a fascist where anything against the state is obstructing the state.
Legally, Trump did commit obstruction: Definition. 18 U.S.C. § 1503 defines “obstruction of justice” as an act that “influences, obstructs, or impedes, or endeavors to influence, obstruct, or impede, the due administration of justice.” AND “Employees told investigators that Trump personally instructed them to move boxes of documents to his residence at Mar-a-Lago — even after the Justice Department had subpoenaed the classified documents Trump took from the White House. And the moving of the boxes was captured on security cameras.”
Trump obstructed? Says who? The same peeps who said that he had compromising documents on nukes?
Obstruction is the legal term for what Trump did in instructing his staff to move the boxes. I doubt he will be charged but if he is he will at best get a misdemeanor and a fine.
Biden says no regrets? Shouldn’t that be “no regerts”?
Not much ado over nothing with the Trump documents. If they had a smoking gun they would have pulled the trigger by now. Like everything else over and over it turns out to be a nothing burger waste of effort.
How much you wanna bet the doc’s with Biden are all related to Ukraine and China and was literally research for Hunter’s shady endeavors while his dad was VP? Many docs found where Hunter was supposedly living. He definitely didn’t have a security clearance for that stuff. Hillary literally took money from foreign governments while Secretary of State and called it a donation to the Clinton Foundation. It was pure Pay for Play. Hunter used his father’s name and influence to make massive profits from Ukraine and China in similar Pay for Play. His position on that Burisma oligarch gas company was a highly paid no-show job on the board. I don’t think he attended most meetings. He had zero experience to be a board member. He was accepting bribes in the place of his father who was demanding political action and with-holding money from the government to protect his financial dealings with Burisma.
mespo72*, do note that Russia also did not follow the so-called Minsk Accords, refusing to even admit the involvement of Russian military.
No one ever mentions anyone other than Joe Biden to be the government official by which these TS documents were illegally moved.
They leave the question open and hanging, though, so that it naturally gains traction in everyone’s mind.
Very devious indeed.
Cindy Bragg: Very good! Hang on to it/them and pass it down! (Don’t want to get in trouble for staying OT here, but in some future post (so I don’t advance a whole OT thread here), tell me about what’s on your cylinders (very cool and more rare)). I have @ dozen of the thick, black Edison discs that are only recorded on one side, pre-78s, maybe 10″ diameter, they also are rare.
To moderator: Thank you in advance for posting this and I will be more mindful/respectful of OT posts in the future.
Miranda Devine caught an amazing aspect of the documents stored in the Biden Wilminton, Delaware home, where Hunter Biden comes and goes as he likes. https://nypost.com/2023/01/22/theres-no-hiding-bidens-fright-over-classified-document-scandal/
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MD: “For Hunter, it was an uncharacteristically lengthy email, listing 22 points about Ukraine’s political situation, with detailed information about the upcoming election and predicting an escalation of Russia’s “destabilization campaign, which could lead to a full-scale takeover of the eastern region, most critically Donetsk.”
HB quoted. “The strategic value is to create a land bridge for RU to Crimea. That won’t directly affect Burisma holdings but it will limit future UK exploration and utilization of offshore opportunities in particular,” Hunter wrote.
HB quoted. “It will also result in further destabilization of UK nationally and for whatever govt is in power. And the US will respond with even stronger sanctions. Those sanctions will threaten the tenuous support of the EU which does not have the political will to incur steep energy price increases.”
MD concludes: In point 22, Hunter instructed Archer to buy a “burner phone,” presumably to keep their conversations private. “Buy a cell phone from a 7/11 or CVS tmrw and ill do the same.”
MD: It’s a prescient and very well-informed email, unlike anything else Hunter wrote in the nine years covered in the laptop, and it has the distinct flavor of an official briefing, perhaps even a classified one.”
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The insight of Devine’s last sentence suggests a smoking gun, if a smoking gun is needed.
This was also noted in the comments on the most recent posting.
“Smoking gun,” schmoking gun!
Yada, yada, yada!
There have been flagrant “smoking guns” at Pearl Harbor, Patton’s car “accident” and the Gulf of Tonkin, in the JFK, MLK and RFK assassinations (Marcello’s Marseilles JFK hit team, the “security guard” assassin holding RFK’s elbow), in Flight 800’s one-time-only-ever “spontaneous fuel tank explosion,” in the “pull it” perfectly-in-its-own-footprint controlled demolition of the completely untouched Building 7, dozens of glaring co-conspirators in the Obama Coup D’etat in America, etc.
The Global Communist Deep Deep State “Swamp” just ignores them all.
Or haven’t you noticed?
Gonna be hard to ignore 1,850 boxes of documents at Penn.