Don't buy Biden's 'surprise' --classified documents were moved at least twice
By: Jonathan Turley (New York Post)
And all that Chinese money to the University of Pennsylvania........................
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
By Jonathan Turley
With the reported discovery of a second batch of highly classified documents connected to President Biden, the decisions of Attorney General Merrick Garland are fast moving from the inexplicable to incomprehensible.
Garland was presumably briefed that classified documents were discovered in Joe Biden's old office on Nov. 2. He also presumably knew about the Biden documents when he appointed a special counsel to investigate the classified documents at Mar-a-Lago 16 days later.
At the time of the appointment of Jack Smith, some of us noted the inexplicable refusal of Garland to appoint a special counsel to look into alleged Biden influence peddling and other crimes.
Garland continued to refuse such an appointment even as he justified the appointment of Smith on the basis that Trump was running for the presidency. Joe Biden is the president. What is the difference?
Classified documents from Biden's days as vice president were discovered in November. Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
President Biden, meanwhile, is feigning ignorance, simply saying he was "surprised" the documents were there.
By not discussing the content of the documents, Biden minimizes his vulnerability to charges of obstruction or false statements. He can simply declare "surprise," knowing that many in the media will welcome his silence as they spin the scandal.
The documents were discovered six days before midterm elections at a think tank affiliated with the University of Pennsylvania. Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP
Despite the lack of information, the press and pundits have already declared there is no real national security danger and certainly no comparison to Mar-a-Lago. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, declared "There is no comparison. They were in a locked closet. They were not accessible."
So that is the standard? A locked closet? The Mar-a-Lago storage room was locked and later the security was enhanced at the request of the FBI.
It is fair to note that Trump and his staff are accused of false statements and obstruction. However, that does not change the same alleged crime of unlawful removal and possession.
Biden is taking a page from the Hillary Clinton playbook. Recall the long-sought Whitewater documents. After the case was effectively over, they suddenly appeared. The New York Times called the documents "elusive," as if they moved by free will.
Clinton was also "surprised" by the discovery of the documents . . . after they could not be used as part of the earlier investigation.
There are some obvious explanations for the documents being present in the office, particularly given Biden's work on a book that discussed his work in some of the referenced countries like Ukraine. However, even that explanation raises more questions. For example, Biden left office as vice president in 2017 and had an office at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia after finishing his term until 2019. On February 8, 2018, the Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement says that it opened its doors in Washington, D.C.
Former President Trump's Mar-a-Lago home was raided in August 2022 with the discovery of classified documents. Joe Raedle/Getty Images
So if these documents were removed when Biden left office, where were they in the prior year and were they moved repeatedly before they ended up in the Washington office? This does not appear a "one-and-done" mistake. Rather documents may have been at various locations over a five year period.
None of this could be clarified with Biden simply expressing "surprise."
The FBI has two immediate tasks: secure the highly classified documents and then determine whether they may have been compromised.
Consider that Biden notably did not categorically deny asking for the documents to be taken at the end of this term as vice president.
He also did not explain when he was briefed after they were found.
Democrats and the media are eager to wave this away and move on. But, as the statements of Garland and Biden show, there are many questions that need answering. The discovery of new classified documents only magnifies those unanswered questions.
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This is just to take our attention away from the tons of Top Secret and Classified documents stolen and claimed to belong to #45
Right. Trump planted the classified documents from when Brandon was a VP in the locked closet just so Biden's lawyers could "accidently" discover them.
As Brandon so eloquently stated.
So that is twice according to Brandon's own words he should resign. Where the hell is his resignation?
You do understand that, as POTUS, it was Trump's right to declassify and move those documents to Mar-a-Lago and that the property is guarded by Secret Service 24/7/365, don't you?
Biden, as V-POTUS did NOT have that right. Also, the Penn/Biden building is either owned or managed by the CCP. Therefore, what he did is dangerous to our national security.
Civics/Government 101.
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Tons & tons!
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You know the Bidinites are going to try to make pathetic excuse after pathetic excuse for this right.
The two things are apples & oranges they say!
They are known for missing the obvious.
They are!
Looking forward to learning where Biden's second unsecured location is where he kept even more Classified Documents.
THIS JUST IN - Per Peter Doocy, the 2nd location is Biden's Wilmington, DE home. Classified Documents were stored in the unsecured garage for years while Biden was "Citizen Biden". They were removed either yesterday or this morning.
The WH has stated that there "might" be more locations. (this is a developing story)
I hope that 2 left wing sources suffice.
How "irresponsible" of Amtrak Joey.
Hey, hey, come on, man!
That garage was LOCKED, I tells ya!
Yeah, next to my Corvette! I take classified documents seriously! This guy is an imbecile, he can't even read his own statement.
Biden Claps Back Over Documents In Car: 'My Corvette's In A Locked Garage' | Watch (msn.com)
That file cabinet, lamp shade, and other stuff look as "secure" as our southern border to me!
Right under the can of STP.
I hope that is an electric conversion on that Corvette? Joe isn't a hypocrite is he?
Just taking an educated guess here, but I doubt Joe's allowed to drive that car even in a driveway. It was a Joe Cool photo op, but it does show the "storage area" in his "locked" garage.
I also doubt Joe's handlers allow him to operate anything more complicated than an electric light switch at this point of his very obvious cognitive decline.
Kinda weird that a sitting president said that he kept Top Secret/Classified documents in his "private library" which was actually his private home's garage!
If you have a garage door opener, how many times have you had to return home because you didn't remember if you closed the garage door? I'll admit to have done this numerous times and I am a hellova lot younger than Joey.
Oh ya, they are right by the Corvette tail pipe!
They're most likely irrelevant and your usual PD&D
FYI, I am also guilty of the open garage door syndrome however, I bought a controller for $28 off Amazon that you can open or close your garage door from anywhere. It is slick and works with just about all garage door openers.
I've had "open garage door syndrome" issues when leaves or even a minimal amount of other debris block the sensors. The bottom line is that we cannot assume that a garage door is ever "locked" at all times.
You are correct, Sir!
Just further proof on Biden's part that, as the old saying goes, "If you can't dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bullshit." of which Joe is a expert.
The hypocrisy of the Democrats is becoming more and more apparent. And yet the Bidenites are playing ignorant and making excuses.
Then why did he send his lawyers to empty out that "locked closet" after the documents had been there for SIX YEARS and then suppress the "find" for 2 months?
YEP!!
NOPE!!
Nope won't do it!
Ya! It will!
Outrage for midterms over Trump; and to get all the media harping on Trump 24/7. That way whatever Brandon did with classified documents would be met with; "But Trruuummmmppppp!!!!!!"
The media and leftists are already using the excuse everywhere.
"But Trruuummmmppppp!!!!!!"
What would you do, what would you say, without him to fall back upon?
If he is your excuse, you have lost all reason.
Better to ask the Left ... especially Biden, KJP, Pelosi, Schiff, Swalwell, the J6 Committee, etc., who've obsessed about Trump for over 6 years.
Too late
Yes, it appears to be "Too late" looks like Biden is getting thrown under the bus.
So clueless, continue
Looking in the mirror are you when typing that in?
I don't give a shit if Trump is held accountable. If he broke the law prosecute him! But he is entitled to the same damn protections under the Constitution as everyone else! But I also expect Brandon the Human Fuck Up Machine to be held to the exact same damn standards. This two tier justice system Garland, the DOJ, and FBI have going on is pathetic.
Let me know when the FBI gets off their asses and raids all of Brandon's offices, and homes looking for classified information. It is now up to three unsecured locations and growing. Brandon seems to think the most secure place in the world is the garage his corvette sits in. Doubt it is any more secure than a locked closet in his office at the university. The fact that the DOJ and FBI are letting Brandon's lawyers go through every location and cherry pick what they release is asinine in the extreme. "Brandon is cooperating" 6 plus years later, and after how many times the classified documents were move.
Brandon doesn't even get to use the excuse he was president and could declassify information. Being VP he could only declassify information that his office classified.
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Off topic?
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Enough with this fucking game.
Peace…and out.
The truth usually is here
The raid on Mar-a-Lago was simply a political stunt perpetrated by the Dems to harass and humiliate Trump. There was never any kind of threat to "national security"
There needs to be a special counsel appointed to look into possible illegal and treasonous acts committed by the Biden family.
Garland doesn't have a choice on this. He immediately set one up for Trump. Now, he has to assign one for Biden. What a dumb AG.
We know he will prove himself a partisan hack and not do a damn thing.
You're calling the AG dumb.
That's freaking hilarious [deleted]
Jonathan Turley is a lawyer, and should know better than to accuse the president of feigning ignorance without any evidence that he’s lying.
“Fair to note?” Note? You don’t “note” false statements and obstruction. You prosecute them. They are clear expressions of willful disrespect for the law.
Improperly possessing classified documents is against the law, of course, but very likely to be accidental when the party possessing them is the one shining light on the problem. The Penn Biden center is leading the effort to resolve the matter.
By harsh contrast, the Mar-a-Lago case is defined by the above “noted” false statements and obstruction.
Based on the information we have at this time, equating the two cases is absurd. Trump’s documents were in his home. Biden’s were at the Penn Biden Center at the campus of UPenn and very likely far better protected. The number of Biden documents is one or two hundred, so far, while the Trump documents numbered in the many thousands, including, apparently, issues of nuclear secrets.
So, absolutely investigate the Biden documents. This is an important matter regardless of the specific details. But if Republicans are going to freak out this hard over the Biden docs, they should want Trump in prison for the rest of his life.
Help me out here, was the Secret Service watching the documents in the Penn Biden Center? Were they watching them while in his GARAGE?
You are kidding.....right?
The hypocrisy with this story is insane. Trump and his people were insisting that he had a right to keep all those documents, and were fighting the Archive department and the FBI every step of the way. They still are.
Contrast that with Biden and his people who realized all on their own that they had documents they weren’t supposed to have, voluntarily returned them, and then started looking for more just to make sure everything was correct.
For Trump supporters, he was a victim of the deep state. His rights were violated. And he had every right to those thousands of documents. But Biden’s people find a couple hundred documents on their own and suddenly he’s the biggest traitor this country has ever known. It’s ridiculous.
I don’t excuse Biden and his people at all. They have broken the law. But, if you can’t see the difference in the attitudes and actions, then you just have your eyes shut tight.
The only problem is all that should have happened 6 years ago.
Trump being President had the power to declassify all of those documents; Brandon being VP didn't (Unless his office is the one that classified them. Anything classified by Obama or the agencies was beyond his power to declassify.).
6 years, and multiple moves of the classified documents. All to unsecured locations. Chain of custody was broken repeatedly. But you expect us to believe that a Brandon hand picked sanitation team is being completely truthful?
They aren't being nearly as thorough as an FBI raid. Maybe the FBI told Garland that Jill's dresses aren't as sexy as Melania's? They couldn't have a Hoover fashion show using Jill's dresses; so a raid just wasn't worth it!
That little 6 year time gap; and the classified documents moving to unsecured locations multiple times; seems to escape them.
Funny how the Archive people had no problem figuring out Trump was holding documents and material they deemed their's; but 6 years later and they still haven't figure out Brandon had sensitive classified material. Looks like a strong case of selective enforcement.
I can't add anything more to your excellent comment except to ask:
Did Biden's lawyers have the proper security clearances to sift through and remove illegally held classified documents from THREE unsecured locations?
It is telling that NONE of the Bidenites have acknowledged this.
And when it is mentioned the left lose their shit trying to make excuses.
Well thank god they always have the old excuse to use, blame Trump. This should be a balm for the lefties on this site.
The best and most ironic one comes from the WH Press Secretary:
KJP: "We take this very seriously. The president takes this very seriously. He was not aware that the records were there. He does not know what is in the documents. Again, classified information, classified documents he takes very seriously."
He takes is seriously, but he doesn't know how they ended up in various places including his garage.
And then there is the inspiring words of Kamala Harris:
"I think of this moment as a moment that is about great momentum, inspired by, yes, optimism… but also inspired by also our collective ability to see what can be unburdened by what has been."
That alone should tell EVERYBODY the man should not be in office.
More incoherent babble from the escort.
The escort? Joe Biden keeps calling her "The president!"
He's also called her the First Lady. Here's a You Tube walk down Memory Lane ...
I believe Jeremy, Ronin and Jasper have pertty much summed up everything.
Trump is claiming that he "Declassified the documents", which is where the fight is taking place. Biden does not have that right so having documents is a crime.
Please point out in the statute where "accidental" or "effort to resolve" is cited.
Then you’d think there would be some record. You’d think the National Archives or the DOJ would be able to verify it without all this fuss. You’d also think every other president who ever lived would have had this problem.
I mean common sense should tell you his story is bullshit.
Please point out where I said it was.
(that’s rhetorical)
I don’t think what I wrote is that hard to understand - unless you’re just set on being argumentative. It’s a fact that even in strict liability type cases like this (or statutory rape, to cite another example) courts generally go easier on offenders who broke the law accidentally, and responded by owning their mistake and trying to work with law enforcement, instead of in opposition.
Investigations should be conducted of both Trump and Biden's illegal possession of classified documents, and if warranted, charges should be brought against either or both of them, and let the chips fall where they may. If a crime has been found to have been committed, then prosecute either or both of them. This should not be so controversial.
So now it's "inadvertently misplaced" classified documents.
Biden documents 'inadvertently misplaced,' pledges special counsel cooperation
There is one guy enjoying all of it:
Good point!
How so is it a good point?
Left wing media such as CNN, Yahoo, and others have been speculating about a Newsom/DeSantis 2024 match-up for almost a year, Tessy. You can find links about this on the Internet if you're interested. I read them and found them quite interesting!
Ye, lets hold the reality star to a higher standard than the fucking moron that has been in government service for 50 years. I guess that is understandable, because nobody thinks Biden has the intelligence to know what the rating on the documents are.
What the fuck is wrong with the Biden family anyways? can't any of them control their important information?
So, you admit #45 was nothing but a failed reality 'star' and a failed miserable excuse of a human being
So you admit Brandon the Human Fuck Up Machine is a complete "fucking moron" for not knowing how to handle classified information after serving in government for 50 years? That he doesn't have the intelligence to do his damn job!
No, that's your usual and predictable PD&D
Neither Joe nor Hunter have ever been known as the brightest crayons in the box.
that CCP money is also involved in the Biden Family Crime Syndicate in the Penn/Biden Building's operations.
What Chinese money to U Penn?
Citation?
I won't hold my breath though waiting on something I know you're unable to provide.
$54.6 Million to be exact.
This was seeded yesterday.........
Surprised you don't remember it. You even posted on it three times.
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That must be a reich wing source you're providing, as usual.
I remember. I don't agree with far right/reich wing sources like the NY Post - a reich wing version of the National Enquirer, no I don't read such malicious garbage and mis/disinformation/outright lies.
What do you read?
If you ever answer one of my questions, I might consider answering one of yours, maybe.
Don't put words in my mouth!
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Yep.......................
Why the letters? Is that a veiled insult?
NOPE....................
That's what YOU do.
Doesn't mean they comprehended it.
If it had not been read, it would not have been commented on.
Biden wants to make Americans buy electric cars and owns a Corvette, What a hypocrite !
Wonder if he has a gas stove, too
Jill does.
So Joe and his in home nurse are hypocrites. But then again, we already knew that.
Seems so! (and that's a pic of only ONE of their kitchens)
Cooking green vegetables?
What a lifestyle the left lives!
From Dr. Jill's photo op, we can't tell if she was frying or sauteing them. Either way, those methods aren't very healthful unless she was using a healthful oil and didn't overcook the veggies (thereby removing all nutrients).
It would have been more healthful if she'd microwaved the veggies with a couple of spoons of water and added herbs.
She would be better off ordering the balance of nature supplements. Two more pills to pop.
The pretext for the FBI search of Mar-a-lago was to recover executive records covered by the Presidential Records Act. The FBI raid was not predicated upon recovering classified material. The PRA is not about handling of classified material.
The focus on classified material in Biden's possession is a smoke screen apparently intended to let the FBI and DOJ off the hook. Yes, the FBI discovered classified material at Mar-a-lago but that was not the justification for the search. At this point the National Archives needs to become more involved to ensure that all executive records are recovered in compliance with the PRA. What has the National Archive been doing for the last six years?
Just read the damn warrant.
If one is not aware that a box contains classified documents, why would one store same in a secured facility? Improper storage correlates with "I did not know classified documents were inside the box". Truth or not, those factors correlate.
Again, why is this so difficult to understand? If the documents were in a box or covered so that classified markings were not visible (and it appears this was the case) and nobody knew that the box contained classified documents, then moving a box of documents from one location to another is not at all surprising.
If the box had been opened at a location, documents opened to see they were classified, then repacked and moved to another location then that would clearly be very suspicious.
Ignorance of the law is no excuse. Mishandling of classified documents doesn't care about "mistakes", "errors", or anything other euphemisms that Democrats want to use to explain away Brandon's fuck up.
In case you didn't read the article, the documents were moved at least twice. More have been discovered in Brandon's garage and one of his houses. Who the hell knows how many more are out there?
Seems the only thing that leftists can agree on is Trump is guilty; and Hild-a-beast and Brandon are innocent- regardless of the EO/law in place on handling classified documents.
Also forget that the archives and DOJ held this information until after midterms. In fact if it wasn't for a leak to the media we still wouldn't know about it. Would this information have influenced midterms? Would it have shown Garland and the FBI to be the corrupt POS tools of Democrats they really are?
Instead it comes out months after the midterms; and the media shills and leftists have been spinning ever since.
The "authorities" were aware of the documents at Mar-a-lago for quite awhile, and knew they werein a secured location. They were in negotiations with Trump about returning them.
The whole raid was a political stunt to harass and embarrass Trump. If the documents were such a threat to national security, why has he not be brought on charges by now
Yes most people know that NARA, et. al. were trying to get those documents back for months. Trump was given all sorts of leeway, way more than I personally think he should have had. Do you think that process should have dragged out for months or should Trump have ordered his staff to round up all documents and immediately turn them over?
My guess is that their priority was on getting the documents to a proper secured facility. That is, the priority was national security. I doubt that their priority was to indict Trump. And the reason Trump has not been indicted at this point very likely has something to do with adverse political reactions. And that is the reason, now with Biden's documents, why Trump will likely have no consequences.