Obama’s ethics chief rips Biden for 'appalling negligence' of classified documents

AP Photo/Andrew Harnik

The story of the classified documents being found in Joe Biden’s garage and home in Delaware, and at the Penn Biden Center, continues to have legs. The interesting part now is how Democrats are jumping in to criticize Biden for mishandling the sensitive documents.

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Obama’s chief ethics officer, Walter Shaub, is much more critical of Trump’s handling of classified documents but he calls Biden’s ‘neglect’ as ‘appalling.’ Shaub says the difference between the discoveries at Biden’s think tank office, home, and garage and those documents seized at Mar-a-Lago is night and day.

‘Trump knowingly resisted demands by the National Archives for classified records that he appears to have intentionally retained, and he obstructed the government’s efforts to recover them, whereas Biden immediately self-reported and turned the records over to the government at once,’ Shaub, who served as the White House Ethics chief from 2013 to 2017, told DailyMail.com.

‘That’s not to say Biden’s retention of classified records was acceptable. The negligence exhibited in the mishandling of records, especially those stored in his garage is appalling,’ he added.

Shaub also criticized the Biden team for not disclosing that documents had been found at Biden’s home at the same time they confirmed documents were found at the Penn Biden Center office.

‘The White House was not at all forthcoming with the public about their discovery in more than one location,’ he said.

‘But, when comparing the two cases, there’s no getting around the intentionality of Trump’s conduct. So far, there’s no evidence that Biden intentionally retained records or in any way resisted turning them over to the government.’

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It’s true that the reporting is that Trump intentionally took the documents and did so because he thought he was entitled to do so. He was negotiating with the National Archives to return the documents but that was stopped when Attorney General Merrick Garland approved a search warrant and FBI raid on Trump’s Florida home. It can be noted that on Tuesday it was reported that DOJ decided that FBI agents weren’t necessary to supervise Biden’s lawyers who searched Biden’s property for classified documents.

Biden’s story that he was surprised that the documents were found and is frustrated about how the story is playing out doesn’t pass the smell test. Someone had to take the documents out of the White House in the first place. The excuse being given that the final days were chaotic and staff may have been less than strident about properly boxing documents and other papers in the rush to clear out Biden’s office, also doesn’t cut it. All administrations face chaotic final days in the rush to vacate the White House as the new administration moves in. Biden had been in political office for all of his career, many decades, and vice-president for eight years. He knew how the process worked and what he was supposed to do.

Shaub is right that keeping the discovery of classified documents from voters just days before the midterm elections is inexcusable. That office in the Penn Biden Center was used by Tony Blinken while Biden was out of office. Blinken feigns surprise that documents were found in that office. He was managing director of the Penn Biden Center.

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‘I was surprised to learn that there were any government records taken to the Penn Biden Center,’ he said in his first public comments about the issue.

‘I had no knowledge of it at the time.

‘The White House of course has indicated that the administration is cooperating fully with the review that the Justice Department has undertaken.

‘And I of course would cooperate with that review myself.’

Blinken has worked for Biden for a long time. He was Biden’s national security adviser when he was vice president.

You know Biden is having a bad week when the women of The View are saying that Biden should admit his hypocrisy in the situation and level with the American people. Joy Behar and Sunny Hostin both said as much during the show on Tuesday.

“I mean, I love Joe Biden, and I want him to clear this because I know there’s a difference because what he did and what Trump did,” Behar said on Tuesday’s show.

“But it would have been helpful for Joe Biden, when it first came out, to say, … ‘Look, I know I look hypocritical in that tape. I’m sorry about that. I didn’t know about this. And now that I know it, I will do what I can to uncover this,’” she added.

“I mean, he should be speaking to the American people, or else just act like a Republican and say it’s a witch hunt, and let’s fire Merrick Garland,” Behar joked.

“He did call Trump careless with these documents, and I think it would go a long way for him to also say, ‘And I was careless,’” Hostin said. “And so we need to not only review these documents, we need to review the processes.”

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The women on The View are some of the most loyal Biden supporters. They love old Joe. Even they realize what a phony he is, at least in this situation.

Joe Biden campaigned on being the grown-up in the room. He claimed to be the ultimate professional in government service. He promised a calm and boring administration. None of that has proven true. At this point, his boast that his administration would be the most transparent – evah – is just a joke. There are many questions that need to be answered.

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Ed Morrissey 12:40 PM | November 21, 2024
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