Below is my column in The Hill on the release of the tapes from former President Joe Biden’s interview with his biographer. The Biden team fought for years to keep the public from hearing the tapes. We now know why.
Here is the column:
For years, former President Joe Biden has fought to prevent the release of tapes acquired by former special counsel Robert Hur in his investigation. After those efforts collapsed this month, it became clear why Biden and his aides were so determined to keep the public from seeing the evidence.
In addition to showing Biden’s mental diminution even before he was elected president, the tapes show that Biden effectively confessed to the crimes Hur would later excuse on the grounds of his mental infirmity.
Biden’s interviews with his biographer, Mark Zwonitzer, conducted four years before he would be elected president, show that Biden was already having trouble remembering names and dates.
Hur was tasked with determining whether Biden had committed the same crimes that led later to charges against President Trump — retaining classified material, mishandling such material, and related crimes.
It turns out that Biden had already admitted to these alleged crimes, years before the documents were found in various offices and the garage of his home.
I wrote for years about Biden’s absurd denials after files were found in offices where he was working on his book. There was also evidence that the material had been divided, distributed, and transported between different locations.
Despite all the evidence of knowledge and use of the classified materials, Biden and his aides suggested that no one had been aware of its removal and repeated transfer. In the meantime, after the raid on Mar-a-Lago to search for classified material removed by Trump, the Justice Department granted Biden and his team every possible accommodation.
Then came the searches of his home, with the pictures of files in his garage, office, and other locations. These included clearly marked classified material.
Hur then issued his report, concluding that there was evidence of the crimes, but that he would still not charge Biden as Special Counsel Jack Smith had done with Trump. The report stated that “President Biden willfully retained and disclosed classified materials after his vice presidency when he was a private citizen.” It further stated that the clearly marked classified material was “stored in unsecure places” and posed a risk of “serious damage to America’s national security.”
For his part, Biden was defiant and, when confronted about the documents, insisted that “They’re mine,” and that other presidents had done what he did. This was the same president who condemned Trump for retaining classified information. Biden mocked Trump’s defense and asked CBS 60 Minutes how “anyone could be that irresponsible.”
We now know that Biden himself was that irresponsible, if not more so. Biden not only kept classified material longer and in even less secure locations, but he did nothing to protect the material as he attacked Trump over Mar-a-Lago.
Nevertheless, Hur declared that he would not bring a single charge because Biden “would likely present himself to a jury, as he did in our interview of him, as a sympathetic, well-meaning elderly man with a poor memory.”
The tapes show Biden struggling to give answers even before he announced his candidacy for the presidency, despite denials from key aides such as Jen Psaki and Karine Jean-Pierre. However, Hur had actual tapes showing that Biden had clear memory and knowledge of his retention of classified material. Combined with Biden’s later public statements, the combination would have been deadly at trial.
In the interview, Biden read “nearly verbatim” from notebooks containing sensitive national security and foreign policy information, according to Hur. On the tapes, Biden is heard saying, “So this was, I early on, um, in ’09 I just found all the classified stuff downstairs.” At another point, he states, “Some of this may be classified, so be careful with it.” He repeatedly mentions that some of the items in his office and home may be classified.
He even brags to his ghostwriter, in a report made on Oct. 10, 2016, that “I have extensive notes over this period of time … They didn’t know I have this.”
Once again, the Justice Department had already declared and defended in court the idea that such removal and retention of classified material did constitute a federal crime by a president, let alone a vice president. Where Trump acknowledged his retention of classified material and agreed to security measures that the FBI requested, Biden did not inform anyone of his classified materials and kept them in his garage long after the Mar-a-Lago raids. Meanwhile, in public, he expressed shock that any president would act as recklessly as Trump.
It is hard to see how any of that would present “a sympathetic, well-meaning elderly man with a poor memory.” It sounds more like a cynical, shrewd politician with poor ethics. It also sounds like it would have been a strong foundation for a prosecution.
For many, the tapes will reinforce the view of a two-tier legal system, long maintained by the Justice Department, whereby key Democratic figures including Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden were given favorable treatment while others were indicted for similar conduct.
What is truly galling for some of us is that Biden knew all of this when he went public to attack Hur for suggesting that he had knowingly retained classified material and showed diminished mental faculties— at one point forgetting when his son Beau died. Biden savaged Hur at the time for raising this issue, famously demanding, “How the hell dare he raise that?” Even that was a lie, because it was Biden who had raised Beau’s death in the interview.
After the report, Biden was still denying that he had retained classified material, even though he had discussed that classified material with his ghostwriter years earlier and had admitted as much to Hur. But before the public, Biden declared, “I’ve seen headlines since the report was released about my willful retention of documents. This assertion is not only misleading, it’s just plain wrong.”
The record is now largely complete. So is the inescapable conclusion: Biden lacked clarity on most everything but his alleged crimes. His deception and culpability were established in both the Zwonitzer and Hur interviews. Biden gave Hur a virtual confession, and Hur gave him a pass.
Jonathan Turley is a law professor and the New York Times best-selling author of “Rage and the Republic: The Unfinished Story of the American Revolution.”
It was highly illegal as a senator and VP for Biden to take classified material.. yet he did it thousands of times, each a felony, Yet no prosecution. While you get a bench warrant put out on you and possible jail time for forgetting to pay a parking ticket
#. When good people stand by and do nothing…
Biden was sitting there during the infamous Hunter “my father’s sitting right here” phone call.
He should have been prosecuted as that would have offered some coherent train of events and witnesses. It would have also called into question Biden’s pardons and were the pardons his.
When good men stand by…
The Republican Party is the less important of the two majors. The Dem party will determine whether America sinks or swims. The way it’s going now is not looking good. It’s being taken over by extremists. Dan Goldman lost by 30 points because he *wasn’t extreme enough* (let that sink in). Even veteran Dem attack dogs like James Carville is saying he can’t stay in the party in the direction it’s going.
Goldman lost because he refused to speak against Israel’s genocide against the Palestinian people who are starving and living in tents without clean water. They lack medical supplies and Israel won’t consider a 2-state solution. There’s also Israel’s seizing of the Gaza Strip and the Golan Heights that belong to the Palestinians.
Because Israel owns Trump, MAGA tries to spin Goldman’s loss as some kind of proof that the Democratic Party is radicalized. Most Americans oppose what Israel is doing to the Palestinians and support a 2-state solution.
As with the usual MAGA spin, because Trump is screwing up so badly and polling so low and there are no accomplishments to brag about, the next best thing to do is try to dissuade voters from voting for Democrats by portraying them as radical.
Daily bombing for 50 years? 1,200 murdered Israelis and hostages? Sometimes you’ve just had all you’re gunna take.
Gaza was a two state solution. That went so well I can’t see why it hasn’t been extended to the West Bank. By the way, do you really think the PA wants a solution if it means foreign aid dries up and the “country” has to lay off half its population?
Have you ever read a non-revisionist history book? Have you ever heard of Lamumba University where the idea of a Palestinian nation was born in the 1950s? Your hate is really showing. I’m sure you would have been cheering on Goebbels.
^^ FOUND THE MOST INFORMED PERSON ON THE PLANET! ^^
You mean gave them the Gaza strip nearly a quarter century ago
If this was the FBI interviewing Trump the recording would have been leaked 30 minutes after the interview ended
Returning for a brief moment to the issue at hand- unauthorized possession of/access to classified material-there appears to be an established practice that once one reaches a certain level of the governmental establishment, things get really sloppy. One leaves office or their job and by some strange grace retain their security clearances and possibly actual documents that they no longer have a need to access. Even if they still have the clearance. There are two tiers to access: one needs to have the clearance for the material and a task specific need to access said material. If you’re no longer on the job, where’s the need.
Some of this gets written off as necessary should they have to be consulted on some matter that they have personal knowledge of or expertise on said matter of concern. I’ve got no doubt that the practice is entirely too wide spread and needs to be severely curtailed. Along with the kid glove treatment of those who feel they’re above what they view as tiresome twaddle. Then there’s the Art of the Leak……….and how that’s justified.
Helluvalongwayaround the definition of crook, traitor, demonscat.
The first major kerfuffle I remember about mishandled classified materials was the Hillary Clinton basement server scandal. When bad habits like this cross party lines, that should be all the more reason to reign them in.
The crime was that handlers positioned Chauncey Gardiner to become President of the United States. Then the handlers acted under Chauncey’s imprimatur. A bloodless coup by the handlers.
This was not a question of a President becoming incapacitated in office, and his wife and/or handlers putting up a front to get him through his term.
No.
He was unfit even to throw his had in the ring.
In my opinion, nothing, none of the accusations about “fascist MAGA” citizens, is as bad as what the Biden handlers knowingly perpetrated on our country.
Being There
What we need to focus on is that Biden took classified documents when he was both a Senator and as VP and stored them in unsecure locations without the proper, government mandated, security for such material. And it was not for just a few days but years and in some cases decades.
Then, only when it was discovered, the DOJ with a warm velvety glove, handled it. Contrast to the full force of the FBI raid at Trump’s residence. See a two tiered justice system here? You should.
Then the other, truly damnning part, Hur found Biden was not mentally fit for trial. Or, just an old man with a poor memory . . . who just so happened to be the president.
So, the question is, who was really running the nation? Jill? Hunter? A small group of former Obama admin types? Who was really running the autopen?
group of former Obama admin types
USF
The people in the Oblamo/Biden administration like Valerie Jarrett, Samantha Powers, Oblamo and others…that’s who were giving direction. Jill was probably making critical decisions so it would be more under cover of Old Joe.
It wasn’t simply that these were insecure locations. At least some of these locations were related to money coming to Biden or Biden-connected entities from CCP affiliated persons or entities. Effectively, Biden knowingly sold classified information to the CCP for money.
Upstate, Hur did not find that Biden was not mentally fit to stand trial. He argued instead that, despite Biden’s wilful retention of documents he knew to be classified, as evidenced in part by the tapes, sympathetic jurors would not convict an old man with a poor memory. He appears to have relied on the possibility of jury nullification to avoid bringing charges. This seems to me to be an unusual decision for a prosecutor to take.
What WE need to focus on is the present: Trump started a war based on a lie. He blows $1 Billion Dollars a day and the war has killed thousands of Iranians, injured hundreds of our soldiers and killed 19 or so of them. His war is driving up the cost of living. There is no end in sight and no strategy for extricating the US from this war.
Biden was never criminally charged because when the Trump deliberate theft of classified documents and his lies about returning them became public, Biden AND PENCE (you MAGAs keep forgetting about him) both immediately searched their records to see if there were any classified documents and when they found some, they both immediately contacted the NARA and returned them. There was no intentionality involved. To criminally charge someone, the conduct must be intentional and the intentionality must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.
Instead of admitting that the “case” against Biden could not meet this standard, Hur had to insult Biden by claiming he was senile and a jury would not convict him because they would feel sorry for him.
MAGA has yet to explain how, if he was so senile, Biden’s presidency was so much more successful than either of Trump’s- he got COVID under control, got us back to work, back to school and back to business, mended our relations with our allies, got Finland and Sweden to join NATO, got commitments for new factories, bought down unemployment. He got the CHIPs Act and other legislation passed. Polls show that most Americans believe that we we were much better off under Biden. Trump is polling as low as Nixon’s right before he resigned.
OTOH, Trump deliberately stole classified documents, returned some of them, lied about returning all of them, refused polite requests to return the rest, forced the government to get a search warrant and then played the victim.
All of this is just another distraction from Trump’s utter incompetence.
Did you even read the post? The tapes blow your lies right out of the water. Years before the Trump case, and before he was president, Biden explicitly told Zwonitzer that he had classified information. So he was conscious of it and it was completely intentional. That tape alone would have been enough to convict him, if he weren’t able to convincingly play a doddering old man who couldn’t remember anything.
Remember, Hur didn’t say Biden was that, just that he had presented himself that way to his investigators, and would undoubtedly do the same to a jury, who would willingly seize on it as an excuse to acquit.
Biden will be in hell wearing a French maid’s uniform and getting a pineapple shoved up his ass every hour by the devil.
I’m not so sure. He was doing the devil’s work, after all.
Pineapples are my best friends! They’re not nearly as prickly as MAGA morons
Gigi,
You and pineapples have the same IQ. You have the same ethics and morality. You have the same common sense. Actually, I truly believe pineapples have more IQ, ethics, morality and common sense than you do.
And that wasn’t.
Please elaborate.
What a kooky TDS sufferer.
haha you have TDS, incurable. haha
That may be the most original comment ever posted on this blog.
“Biden will be in hell wearing a French maid’s uniform and getting a pineapple shoved up his ass every hour by the devil.”
Careful what you wish for – he might enjoy that…
Why did he not mention that Biden was not president when he took these classified documents? A VP nor a Senator is allowed to retain classified documents “While a sitting vice president may have secure arrangements made by security officials to review critical briefs at an official residence, keeping unauthorized or unapproved classified materials at a private home—especially after leaving office—is strictly prohibited.”
I remember the photograph of Hunter posing in the Corvette with TWO party girls, the open garage door revealing stacked banker’s boxes overflowing with documents, disheveled lids falling off. This at the same FBI that stated SWAT raids on Roger Stone and Mar a Lago politely asked to see the documents there and at the office of the foundation at U of Penn FUNDED BY THE CCP and loaded with totally unsecured documents from Biden’s VP years. Anyone who still has no clue how corrupt the FBI got, look up “The Two FBIs” by agent Nicole Parker for an insider’s (almost totally unreported) view of the politicization of the DOJ starting most egregiously with the Clinton administration.
And the worst part is Hunter the crack head hooker banger was living in that house at the time the documents were openly displayed in the garage.
Remember when Biden claimed that Pope Francis told him that he was a “good Catholic” and that he should continue to receive the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist? If he is in the confessing mood, he might want to avail himself of that other Catholic sacrament: Confession and Absolution of Sin. He might want to block out a couple hours of his schedule with perhaps a nap to maintain stamina for the ordeal.
My Father-in-Law died in 2016 of the effects of Dementia. He had stated, while living with my wife and I, that he would not die in America (my wife and her parents were from Bulgaria, originally), and they went back to there home in Montana, Bulgaria, in 2008. My wife stated from the time President Biden started running for President, that she saw some of the same symptoms in President Biden that her father showed, in the days and months before he was diagnosed with Dementia. He was mentally compromised in 2019, and his wife should have KNOWN it! To say NOTHING of the doctors and other professionals around EVERY High Ranking Political Official!
Those are the people who should be brought up on charges. Fraud and Deceit come to mind
The blog’s deceivers make this assertion: Trump did not immediately hand over his classified docs. When discovered, Biden did surrender his classified docs immediately. (Thus, continues the assertion, Trump’s a criminal. Biden is not.)
Biden admitted in 2017 that he possessed classified docs. (See the ghostwriter’s interview.) He began surrendering those docs in 2022.
Five years later is not “immediately.”
Sam,
Didnt Biden take some of the classified documents back in 2010 or 2012?
Earlier
Then it was really, really not immediately.
Then it was really not immediately.
Biden was not legally allowed to keep classified materials, nor was he allowed to classify or declassify files. He was a US Senator and a VP.
It is deeply saddening that our Republic is in the hands of elected and bureaucratic users that have little to no honor. Even worse is the American public that fails to protect our Republic by doing their due diligence on issues and candidates that will maintain Constitutional stability. Such stability has elevated America to historical world heights with advancements in almost every aspect of industry and societal development. Our Constitution and system of meritocracy is the foundation of our success and can continue for generations if we do our part to defend from enemies both foreign and domestic.
Blow Hard Biden.
Wow – a two-tiered justice system. Who would have guessed? Americans are getting tired of this game. No one ever pays for their crimes – other than conservative Republican reps!
More MAGA non-journalism punditry, trying to re-litigate the past while ignoring the present. I’m not going to bother reading Turley’s spin because it is a waste of time. Other than MAGAs, who are in an ever-shrinking minority, NO ONE CARES about what Joe Biden did or didn’t say. What possible difference or relevance does any of this have right now, today or on our future? None. Joe Biden is dying of metastatic prostate cancer that has spread to his bones. Like most Americans, I am worried about what’s going on right now and the unhinged liar who is in our White House who started a war based on a lie that he has no idea how to stop. Unlike the past when he surrounded himself with knowledgeable people to tell him the truth, he has surrounded himself with sycophants who keep praising him and defending his stupid mistakes. If he had knowledgeable people around him, maybe he wouldn’t have believed Netanyahu’s lie about Iran being poised to nuke us. He would have been informed about the risk that the Iranians might shut down the Strait of Hormuz and that if they did, the cost of petroleum would go up, along with prices for everything delivered via trucks, including fertilizer and diesel fuel needed for agriculture. Instead, like the arrogant know-it-all that he is, he thought he could just kill the Iranian leader and the Iranians would give up. He has learned that Iran is not Venezuela, but if he had knowledgeable people in his administration, he wouldn’t have had to learn this lesson the hard way. Now, we have an even more radical Iranian leader upset that Trump killed his father and several members of his family, along with a school full of little girls and other Iranian civilians. Starting this war was a serious error in judgment–one that could have been prevented if Trump’s priority wasn’t seeking flattery and praise. But, in his first administration when people would advise him that some instinct or idea of his was not a good idea, he would fire them. It’s all about the ego. Most of us hope that his ego won’t get us all killed, either by a world war or some cyberattack on our infrastructure. There has already been a cyberattack on water systems in 7 states, which Trump is trying to blame on Tim Walz.
Trump is in office because he lied about immediately bringing down the cost of groceries, energy and other things–he had no plan to do so, and everything has gone up in price. He lied about “no new wars”–then went out and started one. He keeps on announcing a “deal in the works” with the Iranians when there is NO deal in the works, and talks which are not talks–they are, at best, talks about maybe having talks in the near future. He keeps lying about the Iranians “begging” him to stop bombing them, only to have the Iranians call him out as the liar that he is. The Iranians have the upper hand–they always have–and, that was foreseeable. He keeps lying about them agreeing to open the Strait of Hormuz, and they deny it. He calls off the bombing just to juice the market–the price of petroleum goes down every time he announces a pause in bombing and stocks surge briefly. Everything is about him, trying to make himself look good, and using the power of the office of the presidency to re-litigate the past, to go after his perceived enemies, to reward the insurrectionists, and to pervert government to do his will. It’s all about his ego, which is getting people killed and driving up the cost of everything. The sad thing is that Republicans, who have the power to restore democracy and our traditional values, refuse to do so.
Turley ought to talk about Blanche and his utter lack of ethics–the Trump v. Trump slush fund lawsuit should result in disbarment–it would under any other circumstances. Trump is both the plaintiff and defendant—there is no actual case or controversy. The case should never have been brought–the statute of limitations ran before it was filed, and Blanche refused to assert this as an affirmative defense and seek summary judgment–which any reasonably-competent attorney would do. Instead, after the judge ordered Blanche to brief just HOW there was an actual case or controversy to prevent automatic dismissal, since Trump was both Plaintiff and Defendant, he “settled” the case via a payout of $1,776 Billion and immunity for Trump, his worthless kids and his companies, from IRS audits or prosecutions. Then, he orally said that the deal was off, but refused to put it in writing. He has since put something in writing, only because two Senators wouldn’t vote his nomination out of committee, but that would not prevent the enforceability of the “settlement agreement”. Even if the “settlement agreement” is rescinded, the J6 criminals could still file federal tort claim notices (even though they are time-barred), and Blanche could “settle” their claims. This is just ONE reason why he should not be Attorney General–there are numerous other reasons. This is a much riper topic for a law professor to write about than a dying former president. But that’s not how MAGA media works.
We won’t waste our time reading your long and uninformed comment either.
I’m not about to read How Trump is the devil. It’s so tedious
Because he’s not…
Gigi posts from an insane asylum every day. MAGA MAGA MAGA blah blah blah. She’s craaaaaaaazy.
As Hillary says… who cares if there were crimes or criminals or if anyone is dead… who cares
And so…we will honor her wishes by NOT caring if she is room temperature.
Your “comment” is longer than the article you didn’t have time to read.
Turley’s spin because it is a waste of time
**************************
Then shut up and go away cry baby
They don’t because their side and media is an echo chamber and they feel that they are being lied to but just cannot resolve their cognitive distortions.
Amazing confession: he didn’t read the article but chose to condemn it at length.
Robert Bell,
Just a friendly FYI, that hot mess of misinformation, disinformation and out right lies is provided to you by none other than our resident, terminal 4 TDS patient, Gigi/Natasha/annony. She has had to change her handle a few times as she thoroughly discredited herself. During the COVID lockdowns, she claimed to be a nurse. When her claims got dismantled, she disappeared for a bit, but then came back as Gigi. When she got dismantled again, she switched to using this annony. But the language and tone are the same. Funny part is, she used to declare she was not Gigi/Natasha when anyone with an IQ over 80 can read the verbiage and see it clearly is. If you read one of her rants, you have read them all and know they are not worth reading again.
Why can’t you respond to comments you don’t like without: 1. making up a fake name for posters; 2. lying about “claims being dismantled” 3. calling inconvenient facts “rants”. What do you call “misinformation” and “disinformation”? Cite what you claim is the truth.
You can’t because: Trump: 1. did lie to get into office; he had NO plan to bring down grocery or energy prices, but people believed the lies. Numerous polls prove that many of those non-MAGAs who voted for him did so because of the lies; you MAGAs would vote for him no matter what lies he tells and no matter what misconduct and crimes he commits; 2. did falsely promise no new wars; the war he started with Iran was irresponsible and he has no idea how to get us out of it and save face; 3. started a war based on a lie, lies about Iran begging for a deal, and lies about a deal being in the works when the cost of gas goes up and stocks go down; 3. did file a lawsuit against the IRS after the statute of limitations ran, even though he is both the plaintiff and defendant. Instead of getting the case dismissed, Blanche did “settle” the case by creating a slush fund to make millionaires out of the J6 insurrectionists who beat up police officers, trashed the Capitol and were hunting for Mike Pence, intending to lynch him. Many of these insurrectionists have since been convicted of other serious crimes, like child molesting. Blanche is supposed to protect the Treasury against frivolous lawsuits–instead, he does whatever Trump wants.
These are indefensible facts. Calling me “Gigi” and lying about previous posts being “dismantled” is just a MAGA tactic–just like all of the other lies it puts out–like blaming Dr. Fauci for creating COVID, like the lie about Trump winning in 2020, the reflecting pool debacle is the result of vandalism, not a botched installation, Obama was born outside the US, migrants are animals, vermin…the list is long.
Who exactly are you rooting for?
Sino-muslim commies
Flooding the nation military-aged with 75 IQs and chinese
British oil cartels
government waste, fraud, and abuse payola schemes (NGOs largely)
DEI fraudsters and their flocks of incompetent thieves and racsists
Ball-less yuppies and millenials being led by “grassroots” neighborhood association facebook groups who are too afraid to reject the absurdity of the losers and self-loathers wrapped in jargon as victims
What else does the left represent? It is decay.
Left pandering to ever smaller identity groups suggest they know they are in decline and getting desperate.
Desperate people do desperate things. This goes double for the violent left. pay attention.
After your first two words, I am going to take your advise and not read the rest of your comment.
What a load of crap
Sir, this is an Arby’s!!
Still drinking that CNN kool aid. It must suck being a dem fool
wow that is A LOT of TDS in one screed! take it easy or you’ll end up in the looney ward.
Man, talk about a Declaration of TDS.
Wimmer of today’s “special “ post 5 out of 5 Puker Award!
🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮
What a seriously delusional comment
Obama Library is breaking the law right now to cover up the crimes by Biden and Obama probably too-deleting documents from the “state of the art cyberspace” library. As if we could not see that coming.
https://www.thethinkingconservative.com/mike-mccormick-substack-articles/
Sheesh, what a word salad. You know your lot are criminals, cheats, and liars, who protected very bad people and prosecuted good or normal folks. Well, you do believe in “by any means necessary” when it is for your goals, right. For the sake of argument, don’t you also believe that MAGA should conduct themselves in the same manner or is that philosophy reserved for just Democrats/Communists?
So when do you announce your candidacy for office and for which political party. Donor in waiting.
Turley is completely distorting the facts here. Biden’s “They’re mine” comment was a legal defense of his personal handwritten notebooks, not a defiant refusal to hand over official files.The structural difference between the two cases comes down to intent and cooperation: Biden’s team immediately self-reported and returned the files upon discovery. Trump actively resisted subpoenas, hid boxes from his own lawyers, and forced an FBI raid. One cooperated fully; the other engaged in criminal obstruction. That is why the legal outcomes are different.
Biden didn’t commit any crimes. Trump did and that is why his properties got a search warrant. Because he intentionally obstructed justice. Biden did not.
No. No. No. No. No.
LOL X
Biden didn’t commit any crimes!
You are a LIAR, Biden committed multiple crimes, Hur didn’t prosecute him, as usual…
Good grief “Biden did not commit in a crimes“ why am I reading your commentary?
Hur didn’t prosecute him because he didn’t have enough evidence to prove intent. He had a very high bar to clear and he didn’t have the evidence to prove Biden committed a crime. He used Biden’s age and age related senility as an excuse. Trump actively obstructed justice.
You’re delusional, there a photographs of boxes of classified documents in Biden’s garage. There is testimony that Biden provided classified information to his author. Irrefutable proof beyond that necessary, all classified documents taken and retained without legal authorization by Senator and VP Joe Biden. Like I said, you are a lying but we all knew that now didn’t we?!
Hur had the evidence. Hur just knew Biden was so incompetent a jury would not find guilty as Biden was not mentally aware of what was going on.
Jury? Hur’s only job was to try to find an excuse to excuse his multiple crimes, commited when he was of completely sound mind, and Biden’s job was to act like a confused old man to help him justify that excuse. The fix was in from the start, all planned.
“Prove intent”?
The mens rea required to violate 18 U.S.C. § 793(f) is merely “gross negligence.”
The bar to meet was not high at all. Here, it was lying on the ground
Trump did not obstruct justice. That lie you cannot defend here X.
Trump was denied justice in a New York City courtroom.
There was sufficient evidence, and whether to prosecute was not supposed to be his decision. I think the biggest problem with prosecuting was political, more Democrat refusal to apply the law.
Trump went by the law, Biden crossed it, and you lie.
S. Meyer—Great comment!
Wonder if there’s a cure for severe TDS?……this kind of brainwashing may not be reversible…sad for you! It will be hard to sue the MSM for the damage they have done to you and millions more.
LOL LOL LOL LOL 😆
“Biden’s team immediately self-reported and returned the files upon discovery.”
GSX: You are lost in your own words and don’t realize how wrong you are. Biden took documents he was never supposed to remove. Trump, as President, could remove those documents at will. It was Trump’s prerogative. All the rest of the discussion is meaningless.
S. Meyer, as usual, you have no idea what you are talking about.
Biden, as VP has the authority to take those classified documents his aides were also authorized to obtain them. Remember, there are different levels of classifications and most of the documents Biden had were low level classifications. The only issue was they didn’t return them when they were supposed to or kept track of them. What Biden did do that Trump did not. Is immediately send them back and report the problem when they found out. Turmp tried to keep documents that were not his to keep.
Biden would have committed a crime if he did exactly the same thing Trump did. Hide them and lead authorities to believe he turned all of it in after declaring on paper that he did when he in fact did not.
GSX: You talk out of your lower orifice. Biden had documents he was not permitted to have. I believe he even had unauthorized documents from his Senate days. Everything he did afterward, like leaving them in an open garage, is just more evidence the man wasn’t fit to be VP. You can lie all you want and maybe even convince a fool, but everyone else knows your ability to think is very limited.
S. Meyer,
You are correct.
Biden took classified documents when he was NOT authorized to, and stored them in unsecure locations for years and in some cases decades. And some of these documents were TS/SCI. Even the lower level documents stored in his garage were not in properly secure areas. For years.
And, by Hur’s own words, clearly Biden was not fit to stand trial. Yet, he was the president of America. So, who was really running the Biden WH admin? Who was in control of the autopen?
The reactions by our leftist friends like the annony, GSX, Gigi, are all the more telling of how they want to change and control the narrative. But they are losing. We all see it. MSM is losing and has been losing the control of the narrative for years. Reflects in their dismal ratings so much so their own viewers are not buying it, except the few cult members like Gigi. When you are losing people like Bill Maher, James Carville, the DNC really needs to have a come to terms moment. Will they? That is the question.
Upstate, you are correct, but to deal with a moron who lies isn’t difficult. All one has to do is rebut the lie with the truth.
What is difficult to understand is why these people lie with such bravado. No sentient individual believes them even when they might have some agreement. They have no credibility.
X thinks the President is subservient to some bureaucrat like in communist hellholes. He just doesn’t understand our system of laws.
OK X, that’s enough. You’re really embarrassing yourself today. Go touch grass or something. slipping.
Do you have ANY self-awareness?
FBI repeatedly warned DOJ didn’t have probable cause to raid Trump home: ‘Not been corroborated’
“The bombshell emails show some inside the FBI were skeptical of the Biden DOJ’s push to raid Trump’s Florida resort home.”
https://justthenews.com/accountability/political-ethics/6abombshell-fbi-memos-show-agents-didnt-believe-doj-had-probable
Upstate- None of it made sense. The Secret Servic was there. All they had to do is ask.
They came in massed, armed and with authorization to shoot. I suspect it may have been a murder raid. At least some weren’t after documents; they wanted Trump’s life.
Young,
You are correct.
From what I recall, the DC HQ sent agents down from that office to conduct the raid. They did not use field agents from the FL office. Of course, someone tipped off MSM the raid was going to happen and they just so happened to be there for maximum coverage.
Let us call it what it was, total BS.
The real take away from PT column, Biden took classified documents that he had no authority to do as a Senator and as VP, put them in unsecured places, for at times, years and even decades, and these places were not secure facilities for classified documents. A desk or closet at a university, for TS/SCI material? A residential garage for even Secret material? Ah, no. And then the real kicker, the Special Prosecutor Hur, after the interview said no charges to press as Biden was basically not fit to stand trial. And Biden WAS president of the nation. Again, not fit to stand trial. Oh, I am sorry, a jury would likely see a old man with a poor memory and not find him guilty. So, the guy with a poor memory is president of the nation.
Not better.
What were they supposed to do? russiagate failed and it looked like Trump was who the people wanted so they had to try to discredit him somehow but what a stupid idea! They were hoping the crazy ‘idea’ that a President has to check with somebody to execute his authority would be believable but they only convinced the TDS sufferers (as predicted) and now they are Super-TDS patients and trying to become super-speaders. I expect many more such manufactured scandals as the deep state dopes get squeezed out of power. 2 more years of Trump will prove the most entertaining as the left’s loses their unbalanced minds!
Joe Biden (if cognoscente) knew Trump had document just as he held them himself. The decision to raid Mar-a-Logo was made by someone else in the Biden Administration (his DNC Handlers), as Obama & Hillary lay silent (wouldn’t you like to know what’s hidden in her pantry) .
The auspice for the raid was made at the behest of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) Archivist(s). Initiated by David Ferriero and followed up by Debra Steidel Wall. The head of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) during the August 2022 FBI search of Mar-a-lago was Debra Steidel Wall, who served as the Acting Archivist of the United States. She stepped into the role just months prior following the retirement of the previous confirmed Archivist.
Re.:
David Ferriero: Served as the confirmed 10th Archivist of the United States until his planned retirement on April 30, 2022, having initiated the initial retrieval of presidential boxes from Mar-a-Lago.
Debra Steidel Wall: Took over as Acting Archivist on May 1, 2022, and was leading NARA when the agency oversaw the referral to the Justice Department leading up to the August 8, 2022 search.
BTW:
In 1973, Henry Kissinger had sensitive government documents and telephone transcripts moved to a bomb shelter at the Rockefeller family’s Pocantico Hills estate in New York. A court later ruled these records were public property, leading him to transfer them to the Library of Congress.
Document Relocation Details
The Location: “Underground Bomb Shelter, the location of cabinet papers and private telephone transcripts delivered to the estate during 1973”, as noted on Wikipedia.
The Materials: Transcripts of daily telephone calls and meetings kept as personal records.
The Ruling: A federal judge ruled the 33,000 pages of telephone transcripts were public property and ordered their return to the State Department.
Henry Kissinger famously withheld transcripts of his telephone conversations—known as “telcons”—from public records by transferring them to the Library of Congress as private papers rather than leaving them under the control of the Department of State or the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA).
The Telcon Controversy
Removal of Records: “Once Henry Kissinger left the State Department in early 1977, he transferred the telcons and other material to the Library of Congress as “private papers.””, as detailed by the National Security Archive.
Legal Challenge: The National Security Archive”questioning whether Kissinger had the right to keep these documents, which were public records produced by White House and State Department staffers.”
Recovery: Facing pressure and a potential lawsuit over federal records laws, Kissinger returned copies of the telephone conversation transcripts to the State Department and NARA between 2001 and 2002.
See: National Security Archive
https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/cold-war-henry-kissinger/2023-05-25/henry-kissingers-documented-legacy
Suppression-of-Information is the ‘Drain Plug’ of the Swamp.
Excellent find one of the reasons I scan the site is finding things typically kept off other sources. Some might appreciate looking up Mike McCormick who was the stenographer in the room with Biden when he was VP. Alarming recent development Mike reports the Obama library (you could see this coming when they announced it would be in “cyberspace”) the archivists are deleting documents that Mike knows existed because he had a hand in creating them. Of course this is being censored off all the conventional media.
https://www.thethinkingconservative.com/mike-mccormick-substack-articles/
“just the news” is MAGA propaganda.
John Solomon was the only reporter to report on the Kevin Clinesmith case. Are you familiar with him? FBI lawyer who forged an intel document to justify the FISA warrant on Trump? Boasberg the judge who was misled (apparently assuming he was not in on it) let him off with probation. A year later there still was no results found if you searched for Clinesmith on Wikipedia.
Was it “MAGA” to say the “51 intelligence professionals” who lied about Hunter’s laptop to to get Biden elected are lying scum? That’s what they are; incompetent too as they failed on 9/11, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Turkey, Armenia….unless there was some other reason they did it….
Trump as POTUS had legal authority to possess materials he had. Biden as a Senator and VP had no such legal authority to do so. The classified material Biden had in his possession was acquired before Biden was installed as president. Big difference between the two
Don’t blame X for being so wrong, he doesn’t know anything about the law!
Biden didn’t commit any crimes? this is the hill you’re defending? haha
So as long as a criminal doesn’t obstruct it’s all forgiven? So what exactly did Hur excuse? nothing? what an idiotic take you have. slipping hard today X
The Archive was aware of every page in Trumps possession and even made storage suggestions.
Trump refused to play the lefty games about “How can HE de-classify?”
Please X, tell me the authority over the President of the United States that ‘allows’ presidents to de-classify?
X you can’t fool any of the people any of the time because you’ve slipped. too many people know how our system of government works for your dumb lie to work.
The book-related notes containing classified information, that Biden compiled while/after he was VP, L were just as classified as the underlying documents.
Which raises a question: In 2020, Obama published a 768 page Presidential memoir that covered only up til the killing of Osama bin Laden in May 2011.
1. 768 pp to cover less than 2.5 years in office implies minute detail. How did Obama write this w/o access to dozens of boxes of Presidential archives?
2. If Obama took copious notes while President, where are those notes now?
3. Why hasn’t Obama published Volume II? Did he lose his access to Presidential documents?
Biden left intel files at the CCP funded center at U of Penn where anybody could examine them no security. But when you have the stenographer who was in the room with Biden when he was VP accusing him of outright treason, no biggie? Do you even know who Mike McCormick is? https://www.thethinkingconservative.com/mike-mccormick-substack-articles/