“That is not the judgment of the press.” Those words from President Joe Biden were a telling moment after a reporter noted that there is widespread concern that he is mentally diminished. Biden’s cranky response was overshadowed by his confusion on other points during the press conference, including mixing up the presidents of Egypt and Mexico. However, it captured the sense of license and expectation of the Biden White House that the press is supposed to toe the line, as it has for three years.
In the disastrous press conference, CNN correspondent MJ Lee reminded Biden that he had urged Americans to “watch me” when he was confronted over his age: “Many [of the] American people have been watching, and they have expressed concerns about your age.”
The President angrily responded: “That is your judgment!. That is your judgment! That is not the judgment of the press.”
The next day, many in the media came to Biden’s defense and attacked the Special Counsel report which detailed his “diminished faculties.” Others cleaned up the remark about the press. Biden clearly stated “That is your judgment! That is your judgment. That is not the judgment of the press.”
NBC did not include the line in articles on the press conference despite showing it on the live coverage. Roll Call actually edited the President’s remarks to insert “for” in the key line: “That is not the judgment [for] the press.” That changed the line from questioning the right of the press to make such judgments to telling a reporter what the press view should be. Even if it was a Freudian slip, it was a telling slip. Other media inserted or suggested “public” rather than the press in the line.
The obvious exasperation of the President reflects years of a passive, enabling media that shielded Biden from difficult questions on various scandals, including the corruption scandal.
What was striking, however, was the degree to which President Biden and his staff spent this week putting out clearly false statements. In an administration that has pushed for the censorship of citizens accused of disinformation, misinformation, and malinformation, the President openly lied about his conduct and the report.
President Biden, for example, stated that the Special Counsel report found that he did not willfully retain material. It found the opposite . . . repeatedly.
He stated that he did not disclose classified material to his ghostwriter. Special Counsel Hur found precisely the opposite.
Biden stated that the material was not highly classified with “that red stuff…around the corners.” In fact, Hur found that the material was “highly sensitive,” including an Afghanistan-related memo from the National Security Adviser to President Barack Obama in 2009 marked “TOP SECRET/SCI” (Sensitive Compartmented Information).
Biden stated that all of the material was kept in locked or lockable filing cabinets. That was a lie. As the pictures vividly demonstrated, Hur found material in unlocked areas and virtually spilling out of torn boxes in his garage.
What is notable is that Biden works almost entirely off teleprompters, reading statements clearly crafted by his staff. That would indicate that some of these comments were promulgated by staff.
Even in the press conference on Friday, Ian Sams, spokesman for the White House Counsel’s Office ran into a skeptical reporter in the form of Jon Decker, the White House correspondent for Gray Television. Decker is the former head of the White House Correspondents Association and one of my former students. Decker is the gold standard for reporters and has always been objective, tough, and fair. His approach has not changed from the Trump to the Biden Administration.
Decker challenged Sam on coming to the podium to address the President’s statements and proceeding to make a false claim that this is the first Special Counsel to end his investigation without charges.
So why would the White House risk looking like it is going full “Baghdad Bob” in denying readily observable facts? Because this is no real risk.
The reason was evident the day after the report. While usually supportive outlets had to acknowledge the President’s false claims, media figures from MSNBC and CNN quickly fell into line and launched a full attack on Hur, often repeating identical words used by the White House about his observations being “gratuitous.” The problem is Hur, not a President who not only appeared confused in the press conference but openly lied about various established facts.
We have previously written how the level of advocacy and bias in the press has created a danger of a de facto state media in the United States. It is possible to have such a system by consent rather than coercion. The Biden White House has become more open in its marching orders to media, including a letter drafted by the Biden White House Legal Counsel’s Office calling for major media to “ramp up their scrutiny” of House Republicans.
The Decker-Sams exchange is key in this regard. I have previously noted that Sams is now actively managing a media campaign to blunt investigations into the President’s conduct and the alleged corruption by his family. As Decker noted, he is not a lawyer but has used that office to put an official imprimatur on these false statements. That could prove precarious in the weeks to come as the House explores impeachment allegations against the President. The use of White House staff for such purposes has been cited in past impeachment articles.
𝐇𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫’𝐬 𝐥𝐚𝐰𝐲𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐚𝐥 𝐰𝐚𝐬 ‘𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫’ 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐤𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐁𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧’𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐟 𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐝𝐨𝐜𝐬
A close friend of Hunter Biden’s — who got a job as then-Vice President Joe Biden’s legal counsel thanks to his pal’s influence — was at “the center of various discussions” relating to the president’s handling of classified documents, the White House has acknowledged in a letter to special counsel Robert Hur.
By: Social Links for Mary Kay Linge and Social Links for Jon Levine ~ Feb. 10, 2024
https://nypost.com/2024/02/10/news/hunter-biden-pal-in-the-center-of-bidens-document-scandal/
Jonathan: It’s time to quickly wrap this week’s news because I am hosting a Super Bowl party today. For starters, DJT was really was deranged at his rally on Saturday in South Carolina. He spent time attacking Nikki Haley’s husband: “Where’s her husband? Oh, he’s away—what happened?” What happened is that Michael Haley is deployed overseas serving in the US Africa Command. Michael had a quick response to DJT attack on his service: “The difference between humans and animals? Animals never allow the dumbest one to lead the pack”. The real Q is where is Melania? She has yet to appear with her husband on the campaign trail. I’m sure members of the US military will not take kindly to DJT’s continued attacks on them when they vote in November!
Then, DJT is facing a tsunami of financial woes. His legal bills keep piling up. He is facing up to $8-10 million a month on legal fees for his various civil and criminal cases. DJT has been raiding his Super Pac to pay those bills. But every dollar that goes for legal bills is one less dollar to spend on the political campaign. Biden already leads DJT in fundraising. So where is DJT going to get the money to pay his legal bills? How many times can he go back to Mr. & Mrs. MAGADONIAN? At some point the well of suckers is going to run dry.
DJT is already on the hook to pay E. Jean Carroll $83.3 million in damages. In addition, by the end of this month Judge Engoron is going to hit DJT will civil fraud damages of up to $300-500 million (including compounded interest) and will ultimately dismantle his business empire in NY. That means DJT will be out of business in NY and he won’t be able to get loans. So where is DJT going to get money in the future? Probably from the corrupt regimes in Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Indonesia, India and elsewhere. They will always pay to get influence with the person they hope will be back in power.
On the criminal side the DC Court of Appeals ruled DJT is not absolutely immune from criminal prosecution. DJT will appeal but most legal experts predict even the conservative members of the Court won’t endorse endorse the argument that a president can order Seal Team-6 to kill a political opponent and escape criminal prosecution. This would mean the Jack Smith case goes back to Judge Chutkan to set a new trial date. That trial could be completed before the end of the summer. If convicted the polls show many GOP voters would not vote for a “convicted felon”. And this doesn’t count the Alvin Bragg case in NY over DJT’s election interference and the hush money payments to Stormy Daniels that could also find DJT a “convicted felon”. In sum total DJT is in a world of financial and criminal hurt.
Oh well, we have the distraction of the Super Bowl where I have $100 on the outcome. I’m betting on the Chiefs–but I’m conflicted because as a California native I have always supported the 49ers!
No doubt your white privilege will be checked as you a enjoy a unifying moment for the nation during a rendition of the Black National Anthem….
We don’t have a black America or a white America.
We don’t have red states or blue states.
We have the United States….
oh wait….
Dennis McIntyre tried one last desperate deflection in defense of his acknowledged criminal employer, Bribery Biden
Jonathan: It’s time to quickly wrap this week’s news because I am hosting a Super Bowl party today.
Mr. McIntyre:
Please stop taking the liberty of insinuating that you and I are on a first name basis. I do not know you, nor do I want to. I do not want to know whether or not you’re having both of your only two friends from your local Democrat organization over for a Super Bowl party. If you feel obligated to address me by name, you can address me as ‘Mr. Turley’, or ‘Professor Turley’.
You do not get to assume authority for deciding when it is time to wrap this weeks news up as James Comey assumed the powers of the Attorney General to pronounce that Hillary Clinton would not be indicted.
This is not “this weeks news”; this is an ongoing story stretching back over 40+ years of Biden criminality. I would suggest you start your own blog if you want to convince Americans that this is the end of this story. Or alternately, to convince normal Americans of your version of reality concerning both Biden and Trump.
Having just watched Face the Nation, I saw one of the guests say that some of the classified documents Biden had on nuclear weapons was dated, going back to 1979, implying it wasn’t important. A couple of questions. When did Biden acquire this classified information…1979 when he was a senator? Was this classified information stored in accordance with national security regulations? Was there a document custodian maintaining these classified documents? Who had access to these classified documents? There is a lot of this story that will never be known to the general public.
Joe Biden’s political career timeline:
President of the United States 2021-Present
Vice President of the United States 2009-2017
Senator State of Delaware 1973-2009
New Castle County Council Member, Delaware 1971-1973
Hey You “𝐎𝐩𝐞𝐧 𝐮𝐩 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐜𝐤 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮’𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐬𝐥𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧”
Biden is going to leave us with a War (III)
Jonathan, I’ve been trying to raise the issue of public fraud in this comment section for the past year. So here you are now whinging about this exact problem and its nefarious effects, but completely devoid of legal-minded thoughts about how to deter it. Maybe that’s because you believe intentional deceit and honest truth have equal footing under 1st Amendment freedom of political speech?
I mean, that’s what the Biden WH and sympathetic media were doing with this presser and its coverage, right? They’re just exercising speech you don’t like, but which you’ll fight to the death for their right to do? The media are free to intermingle news with opinion without needing to rope off the latter with a heading or banner?
You’ll fight their infowarfare with your brand of reasoned argumentation?….after they’ve benefitted from 2 days of lead time? You get a hit on Fox, and they get to own everything else? The informatics and audiences are to be segmented?….disjoint? There is no venue needed where a common reality is obliged? You’re OK with that because everyone is acting freely to say what they want others to believe?….and consume only that which reinforces what they want to believe?
That’s the style of speech freedom the Founders intended for us as a means to “keep” our Republic?
I’m not for government censorship. I’m for civil lawsuits filed in Fast Public Frauds Courts as a deterrent to intentionally pushing out falsehoods for political advantage. That is the only place left where lies go to die, and liars to be held liable. It would work like Defamation Court, only with rapid due diligence. Juries would be deciders-of-fact.
This is the venue where a common reality can still be forged.
I feel like I’m talking to a brick wall.
You’ve gotta love this, Here you have the DNC filing charges around campaign contributions, when in fact the DNC took Millions in campaign contributions from FTX’s SBF & his Mama as the facts of the matter were later swept under the rug when the FTX Litigation carried on. The DNC has no resolve or respect, They’ll do anything to have it all. Total BS.
𝐃𝐍𝐂 𝐅𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐅𝐄𝐂 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐭 𝐀𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭 𝐑𝐅𝐊 𝐉𝐫. 𝐀𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐈𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐥 𝐒𝐮𝐩𝐞𝐫 𝐏𝐀𝐂 𝐂𝐨𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧
Mr. Kennedy’s campaign is “in the process of accepting a $15 million unlawful in-kind contribution by coordinating their efforts to get him on the ballot,” DNC legal counsel Bob Lenhard said in a Feb. 9 call detailing the FEC complaint.
By: Tyler Durden ~ Feb 09, 2024
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/dnc-files-fec-complaint-against-rfk-jr-alleging-illegal-super-pac-coordination
Jonathan, How do you play this:
If you get to a successful Biden impeachment and criminal charges -before- Inauguration Day January 20, 2025. Then Harris can Pardon his Criminal Charges.
If you get to a successful Biden impeachment and criminal charges -after- Inauguration Day January 20, 2025, The “impeachment” is moot because he is no longer President.
Will the Criminal Charges remain in affect after Inauguration Day January 20, 2025 ?
Can he Pardon himself (and Others) before leaving Office?
What Charges are subject to Prosecution, of which may have occurred while he was in Office and not In Office.
Re: Can we get this guy after his Presidency? (Realistically)
Prof. Turley. I read your comments with a tear in my eye.
I’m a retired trial attorney, who served 45 years in the trenches.
You are to be commended for your clear, concise commentary on the most disappointing creature in America’s long history. I fear our country may be on the abyss of disasters never seen before.
My vitriol towards the biden-Obama axis is drained.
Only a crushing natural disaster can give us a possibility of reconstructing a decayed civilization.
There may be a violent insurrection if any progressive Democrat becomes our next President. Other horrors are possible but hopefully the nation will be from most.
I’m a 6 year veteran with Vietnam service, and more of a cynic than I have a right to be.
Smedley Butler summed up the national consciousness for our actual history post Civil War until now. There is too much of which to be ashamed, and too many people of elevated intelligence blended with bestial morality.
Let’s face it, Joe Biden is kaput.
But Biden’s re-election campaign is “Let’s finish the job”….
That is the slogan Biden is campaigning on…
How many voters can tell exactly what the job is…
other than “let’s finish the job” of destroying the country…
open borders, out of control crime, two-tiered ‘in’justice system, inflation, wars, wars, and more wars….
Yeah, let’s finish the job….??
You’re fired.
If they want to see what actual gratuitous commentary looks like they should review Jack Smith’s indictments and subsequent pleadings.
The AG is not required to accept the recommendation of Mr Hur to give Biden a pass on prosection. Since it is clear that Biden violated the law by wilfully retaining classified materials, and sharing them with unprivileged people, and leaving them unprotected, it can be argued that Garland SHOULD prosecute. Republicans should demand that Garland take this opportunity to bring the country together by dropping the classified documents case against Trump or proceed to drop the hammer on Biden.
I totally agree. Biden needs to be prosecuted, for having the documents and for treason.
Prosecuted and effectively persecuted for the rest of his value destructive life before hell
The criticism or defense of Biden I’ll leave to others. But the media? Tenured professors at journalism colleges are now openly teaching there can be no objectivity in reporting, liberal bias is good, etc. So none of us should be surprised.
CFR § 600.9 Notification and reports by the Attorney General.
(a) The Attorney General will notify the Chairman and Ranking Minority Member of the Judiciary Committees of each House of Congress, with an explanation for each action—
(1) Upon appointing a Special Counsel;
(2) Upon removing any Special Counsel; and
(3) Upon conclusion of the Special Counsels investigation, including, to the extent consistent with applicable law, a description and explanation of instances (if any) in which the Attorney General concluded that a proposed action by a Special Counsel was so inappropriate or unwarranted under established Departmental practices that it should not be pursued.
(b) The notification requirement in paragraph (a)(1) of this section may be tolled by the Attorney General upon a finding that legitimate investigative or privacy concerns require confidentiality. At such time as confidentiality is no longer needed, the notification will be provided.
(c) The Attorney General may determine that public release of these reports would be in the public interest, to the extent that release would comply with applicable legal restrictions. All other releases of information by any Department of Justice employee, including the Special Counsel and staff, concerning matters handled by Special Counsels shall be governed by the generally applicable Departmental guidelines concerning public comment with respect to any criminal investigation, and relevant law.
@julie_kelly2
Feb 10, 2024
“Yesterday, a woman from Texas was sentenced to 37 months in prison for making death threats against Judge Aileen Cannon.
Democrats, the corporate media, and “legal experts” are now piling on Cannon for refusing to comply with Jack Smith’s demands. They are endangering her life”
—————
Biden’s fascist regime is in charge of the chaos.
Communists are similarly very nasty.
It’s Biden’s “communist” regime. Look around you if the “dictatorship of the proletariat” allows it. “From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.” Central planning, control of the means of production (i.e. unconstitutional regulation), redistribution of wealth, and social engineering.
The Challenges of an Aging President – NYT
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/09/opinion/biden-age-report-special-counsel.html
The above NYT/DNC headline, is the Left’s talking point for now.
The Left as usual is committing a ritual sacrifice of a minority population (the elderly) to cover for their team: Democrat / Team Blue.
Just like with dementia in familial Alzheimers, which is manifest in the 40/50s of an individual afflicted, age has nothing to do with Joseph Biden’s cognitive impairment.
Biden’s compromised mental faculties have been known for years, his cognitive impairment mocked globally (from Australia to Islamic Middle East countries). The only thing that has changed is that now it has been officially promulgated by his very own DOJ and AG Merrick Garland’s hand picked Special Counsel.
Once again it is the MSM/DNC who are spreading lies (aka misinformation) while at great harm to the elderly of this country. Plenty of elderly people are just fine as to mental acuity.
Estovir– Biden also had a couple of brain surgeries for aneurysms.
I don’t imagine having part of his brain cut out added any IQ points to the man. Didn’t do much for his honesty either. On the bright side he seems to have gained a superpower that let’s him have tea and visit with dead people. Bet they can’t stand him either.
Stitches everywhere!
Bidenstein!
Precisely. No different that Baghdad Bob.
Rep. Maxwell Frost to reporters: Biden being old doesn’t sound like breaking news to me. What sounds like news to me is millions of jobs created, wages up, inflation down, capping insulin costs, the first ever Office of Gun Violence Prevention, record climate investments
Millions of part time jobs, food costs up, inflation still rampant, do-nothing gun violence prevention office, and accomplish-nothing climate investment. Oh look! A squirrel!
Age and incompetence are not the same.
The paid DNC trolls on here are under the age of
3018.Clearly age and mental acuity are not related
😉
You are nothing more than a big part of the problem. As you continue to lie and cover up for President Biden, who with Kamala make America the laughing stock of the world.
Brezhnev was clearly recognized as senile but Biden seems in worse shape.
But then much of the Democrat party seems either stupid, insane or senile or criminal so perhaps Biden is the perfect figurehead for it….and Kamala, the colored girl of course.
It could be worse. Imagine it is the State of the Union speech, and Iran nukes the Capitol Building, and kills everybody in there. But before we can celebrate, we find out that Admiral Levine was the Designated Survivor.
Floyd, you are right, it could be worse. Or maybe the strange baggage thief could be in line to run things.
But we are being too clever by half. Perhaps those strange creatures are already running things. Biden certainly isn’t.
I suspect that Iran is too smart to nuke the Capitol during the State of the Union. Most of the people assembled for that event are already doing far more destruction to the United States than one little atomic bomb could do. Why should an enemy interrupt a national suicide?
Good point!
But this year’s State of the Union ought to be a hoot on March 7.
I wonder if there are enough drugs to make him look awake? Maybe Hunter can help with that. Maybe Hunter does help with that! I may open a Bud Light and actually watch it this time, see if he trips in the aisle or falls off the stage or needs Dr Jill to point him in the right direction, though I wouldn’t mind if he gave it facing the wall shaking hands with ghosts.
Three days after will be the academy awards, another televised catastrophe. We are in the Bud Light era. President to beer to movies, all crap, all embarrassing.
I am thinking Comfortably Numb here, and some doctor (Jill?) sticking a hypo in Biden’s arm – and there’ll be no more “ASUFUTIMAEHAEHFUTBW”, but you may feel a little sick. 🙂
Floyd,
Good point and you may be closer to the truth than we realize. I think his handlers may be cruel.
Tom Clancy novel
My opinion is that neither Mr. Biden nor anyone else should be prosecuted under the espionage act for mishandling of classified documents. The leaking of classified documents has been a cottage industry in D.C. for decades. Too much stuff is classified, and materials seem to remain classified far longer than they should. But then why is Trump almost exclusive being prosecuted?
Trump refused to return all of the documents after being asked. He refused to return all of the documents after being subpoenaed. He had Nauta move the documents after being subpoenaed. The FBI had to get a warrant to search for the missing docs. Trump had Nauta and de Oliveira attempt to erase security tapes. Trump engaged in obstruction. That’s why he’s being charged. If he’d returned them when asked and not engaged in obstruction, he wouldn’t have been charged.
Trump didn’t refuse. He was never served with a court order.
Get things right for a change.
S. Meyer: YOU need to get things right for a change. DJT was served with a subpoena to return all the docs he was keeping at Mar-a-Lago. After a year of giving his middle finger to NARA/DOJ he was served with a search warrant. All of the foregoing were “court orders”. It seems to never miss a chance to get it wrong!
Trump had a right, as an ex-POTUS to tell NARA to pound sand.
NARA does not have higher authority than the president.
Biden, as a senator and ex vp, had NO right to keep hundreds of highly classified docs for decades.
Also, Dennis, Biden’s ghostwriter destroyed evidence upon hearing of the special counsel investigation. That is a federal offense. Any explanation as to why he was not charged?
Get it right, Dennis. You are mixing things up again. That search warrant needed a court order. Other court orders didn’t apply.
A citizen, even Trump, has the right to contest a subpoena. An ex-President also has to think of the powers and perogatives of his office. When there is a contest, lawyers should negotiate the dispute, at least before a court becomes involved. Hunter Biden was not thrown in jail when he defied a subpoena from the Comer committee. Fani Willis will be contesting a subpoena from Jim Jordan’s committee.
Trump didn’t contest the subpoena, he simply defied a valid subpoena.
HB’s lawyer noted that the original subpoena wasn’t valid because no impeachment inquiry had been approved at that point. The current subpoena is valid and HB will be showing up to testify.
The Comer committee was not prevented from issuing a subpoena by the absence of approval of an impeachment inquiry. A Congressional committee always has subpoena power. As for Trump, he did not simply ignore the FBI subpoena. If memory serves, I believe he sent a letter claiming that some of the records were personal in nature.
EdwardMahl: I think Anonymous has adequately answered your Q. But you are right on one point. Much, way too much has been classified. For a long time the mantra in the FBI, CIA and DOD has been “When in doubt, mark it TOP SECRET or CLASSIFIED”. We found that out during the Vietnam War when Daniel Ellsberg was unsuccessfully prosecuted for revealing the real truth about Nixon’s war. What we need is more sunshine about what our government is doing in our name.
Dennis – You say you are a lawyer. Are you familiar with the term spoliation of evidence? Biden’s ghostwriter, upon hearing about the special counsel, destroyed the recordings he had with Biden, that included references to classified materials. That’s a federal offense. The ghostwriter was not charged. Any thoughts as to why not? It seems pretty straight forward. We know you do not reply to anonymous posts. But rest assured, we are all ears.
https://jonathanturley.org/2024/01/21/have-you-seen-his-man-my-unending-search-for-charles-t-schenck/comment-page-2/#comment-2361582
Turley,
The angry outbursts from Biden are a symptom of his dementia.
You can google it, but anyone who has dealt w those who have dementia can tell stories about it.
Demented Pedo Joe is not fit for office. We all know this.
However, it will take a qualified physician to perform the tests and to make the actual judgement before anyone can talk about the 25th Amendment.
The issue though is that many will not make that determination because of the potential for malpractice.
-G