New Evidence May Destroy Biden's Defense in his Classified Documents Case
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Below is my column in The Hill on new evidence released by the House Oversight Committee challenging the account of President Joe Biden and the White House on the discovery of classified material in various locations. If the earlier search included these classified documents, the new timeline will shatter the long-standing claims of the President.
Here is the column:
This month, the sudden appearance of Special Counsel Robert Hur caused as much of a stir as Bigfoot suddenly appearing on Pennsylvania Avenue.
Unlike his counterpart, Special Counsel Jack Smith, who has been aggressively prosecuting former president Donald Trump, Hur has virtually disappeared since his appointment to investigate President Joe Biden. Hur surfaced to interview Biden over his possession of classified documents, including some that go back to his time as a U.S. senator.
I have referred to Hur as a "neutron prosecutor" — a special counsel with no possible charge, under Justice Department policy barring the indictment of a sitting president. If that was not enough of a problem, Hur may have growing evidence that accounts offered by the White House over the discovery of the documents are false.
The new evidence could prove transformative, not only for the criminal but the impeachment investigation of the president.
This week, the House Oversight Committee released a new timeline on the discovery of classified documents in various locations associated with Biden. From the outset, many of us flagged problems with the account that had been given by Biden, who insisted that he had no knowledge or involvement in the removal or use of the documents.
The most glaring problem is that, after they were removed at the end of his term as vice president, the documents were repeatedly moved and divided up. Some were found in the Penn Center office used by Biden in Washington, D.C. Others were found in his garage and reportedly in his library.
Biden made clear from the beginning that he expected the investigation to be perfunctory and brief. He publicly declared that he has "no regrets" over his own conduct and told the public that the documents investigation would soon peter out when it determined that "there is no 'there' there."
Now, however, it appears that a critical claim by the White House in the scandal may not only be false, but was knowingly false at the time it was made. The White House and Biden's counsel have long maintained that, as soon as documents were discovered in the D.C. office, they notified the national archives. Many asked why they did not call the FBI, but the White House has at least maintained that, unlike Trump, they took immediate action to notify authorities.
However, it now appears that this was not true. One of the closest aides to Biden and a close friend to Hunter Biden is Annie Tomasini. She referred to Hunter as her "brother" and signed off messages with "LY" or "love you."
Tomasini was once a senior aide to Joe Biden and, according to the Oversight Committee, inspected the classified material on March 18, 2021, two months after Biden took office — nearly 20 months before they were said to be found by the Biden team.
The committee now alleges that the White House "omitted months of communications, planning, and coordinating among multiple White House officials, [Kathy] Chung, Penn Biden Center employees, and President Biden's personal attorneys to retrieve the boxes containing classified materials. The timeline also omitted multiple visits from at least five White House employees, including Dana Remus, Anthony Bernal, Ashley Williams, Annie Tomasini, and an unknown staffer."
If true, the evidence demolishes the timeline long maintained by the Biden team. That could have an immediate impact on both the criminal and impeachment investigations.
The timeline has been a critical distinction drawn by the White House in distinguishing this matter from the Trump indictment, in which Smith charged the former president with 37 counts, including retaining classified information, obstructing justice and making false statements, and other charges.
Biden insisted that he was entirely "surprised" by the discovery of the documents in Nov. 2022. He echoed the narrative of both his lawyers and the media at large: "And they did what they should have done," he said. "They immediately called the Archives — immediately called the Archives, turned them over to the Archives, and I was briefed about this discovery."
In reality, Biden's counsel and associates conducted repeated searches and declared repeatedly that no further classified documents were found. That was repeatedly found to be untrue.
Moreover, the concern is that Biden's lawyers, in the course of these private searches, may have consolidated material and contaminated the scene by the time FBI agents conducted their searches. This includes changing how documents were originally stored and whether classified markings were visible to anyone working around the Biden home or garage.
Now it appears that the discovery had actually been made months earlier. The timeline would now more closely mirror Trump's timeline in the knowing retention of classified material, the failure to turn over all of the classified material despite assurances from counsel, and alleged false accounts about the document's discovery.
It is not clear what Hur can do if he finds either from witnesses or forensic testing (including perhaps fingerprints on the documents) that President Biden lied.
I have long disagreed with the policy that the Justice Department has long held, that prosecutors should not indict a sitting president. Were he to seek an indictment, Hur would have to ask for reconsideration of the policy based on a decades-old memo issued by the Office of Legal Counsel under President Bill Clinton, who at the time faced calls for an indictment for perjury.
The DOJ policy will also put pressure on the House in its ongoing impeachment inquiry. In my recent testimony at the first Biden impeachment inquiry hearing, I mapped out four possible articles of impeachment. They included obstruction and abuse of power.
If this new timeline is accurate, the question is whether Biden knew that the account being put forward by his staff and counsel was false. It also raises the question of whether the president knowingly possessed classified documents and lied about their removal, use, and discovery. Finally, if Biden repeated his public denials to Hur, there could be added allegations of false statements to federal investigators, another commonly-charged federal crime.
We still have to see if there is evidence to support such crimes, but what is clear is that the past narrative may no longer suffice.
In his press conference announcing the criminal charges against Trump, Smith declared, "We have one set of laws in this country, and they apply to everyone….Nothing more, nothing less."
The question for Hur is whether they can also apply to a sitting president. Likewise, if these allegations are true and Biden knowingly committed these crimes, the question for Congress could be whether he should remain as president.
Jonathan Turley is the J.B. and Maurice C. Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at the George Washington University Law School.
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Jonathan is at the top of his game this morning!
What is your goal ? To get Biden prosecuted or to get Trump off the hook?
Go ahead , get his fat ass off the hook if it makes you happy. He's going down for his other hundred misdeeds against this country.
You aren’t even trying to hide the hypocrisy anymore. For months you were screaming that trump was a traitor that needed to go to jail for having classified documents, now that Biden is in the exact same position you are willing to let it go.
My goal is to tell the truth about an evil group of people running the DOJ and most of the federal government.
I am talking about Vic, who clearly wants Trump to be let off the hook so he may have some slight chance of being elected again and put this country through hell again.
If Biden did something criminal let the chips fall where they may. Jonathan Turley is not a good arbitrator of that though.
Evidently John thinks a thriving economy, peace through strength, secure borders and energy independence are "hell."
The president of the United States is , by virtue of the office, in the news every day and seen on tv most days. Unless people live "off the grid" the president is part of their daily intake of information and thus part of their lives.
Trump is a malignant narcissist megalomaniac who lied to the people more than 30,000 times while he was president. And that sounds "normal" to you?
His presidency and his behavior has poisoned the minds of an entire generation of American young people. Not to mention his bizarre , obsessive , vindicative, weird, un American, post presidency behavior.
I am positive that may be true for leftists refusing to accept reality.
Joe Biden has been lying the whole damn time!
What part of that is escaping you?
Biden is a proven liar, so all your past talks and rants about Trump being a liar seem rather hypocritical as you steadfastly ignore Biden lies.
Why are you ignoring Biden's lies?
Remember when they told President Lincoln that his best General drank whiskey?
“Ah!” exclaimed Honest Old Abe, “you surprise me, gentlemen. But can you tell me where he gets his whiskey?”
“We cannot, Mr. President. But why do you desire to know?”
“Because, if I can only find out, I will send a barrel of this wonderful whiskey to every general in the army.”
I Will Send a Barrel of This Wonderful Whiskey to Every General in the Army – Quote Investigator®
Did Grant lie 30,000 times?
Just about the only "virtue" Trump has is that he doesnt drink. Other than that is a piece of human excrement.
The investigation into Biden has nothing to do with Trump.
And the Trump investigation has nothing to do with Biden--other than it is his JD.
Why would anyone think investigating one clears the other? That is senseless!
Ok, JR, OK.
Trump BAD.
Got it.
Now, what about Biden's LIES??????
As long as he could beat Robert E Lee, nobody gave a fuck.
Just about the only "virtue" Trump has is that he doesnt drink. Other than that is a piece of human excrement.
A great President, though he is not the topic here, as you know. You have yet to comment on the Independents who were polled. Will they be a problem for the dunce who can barely get up a flight of stairs?
You are like the citizens of ancient Pompeii on the morning of their last day. They were about to be buried under a mountain of volcanic ash that buried the entire town.
This is what metaphorically awaits Trump supporters.
Just can't bring yourself to discuss Biden's many lies, eh?
Independents seem to have accepted the fact that Biden is a liar.
Looks like most except for the most devout sycophants can see the truth.
Modern history has examples that are worse than that. Hillary Clinton wants half the population "deprogramed."
That can be very bloody.
"While most scholars are reluctant to estimate a total number of "unnatural deaths" in China under Mao, evidence shows he was in some way responsible for at least 40 million deaths and perhaps 80 million or more. This includes deaths he was directly responsible for and deaths resulting from disastrous policies he refused to change."
HOW MANY DIED? NEW EVIDENCE SUGGESTS FAR HIGHER NUMBERS FOR THE VICTIMS OF MAO ZEDONG'S ERA - The Washington Post
Triple D’s:
Denial
Deflection
Delusion
Many Americans believe that American oil independence, lower gas and food prices, no supply chain crises, closed/monitored borders, no wars in Europe and the Mid-East, no looming war threats from China, lower crime rates, no illegal aliens sleeping on our streets - harassing US citizens and legal immigrants- not allowing unvetted military-age illegal alien men from terrorist countries to enter our country, and a firm control on China/Mexico fentanyl cartels were good times in America.
If the above is how Trump "put this country through hell" ... wow ... just wow!
Yep and Joe inadvertently admitted it ...........................
President Biden HASN'T done ANYTHING CRIMINAL.
Not a single redeeming quality to be found in that 'human' POS.
Evidence shows otherwise.
No one can truthfully say that of Joe Biden. Let us remember that since 2021, he's vacationed in DE for 1/3 of his "presidency" - only rare photo ops or videos of him "biking" or sitting on the private beach. No availability to the press.
what's really sad is they now his staffers sounding like disciples of Kim Jon Un publicly declaring he has so much energy that can't keep up and other ridiculous about a guy whose day ends before noon most days.
Next you'll hear cabinet secretaries announce Biden shot 24 for 18 holes of golf and then beat lebron james in a game of one on one. It's shameful.
Biden's lies, what lies? Ain't no lies! 😆
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What the fuck is 'peace through strength'?????????
You spout that energy independence nonsense all the time regarding the former 'president' - it's nonsense.
If a nation is strong and has the ability to wipe you out, you don't fuck with them. Therefore, peace cuz no one wants to poke the bear.
I didn't ask you.
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Vic can speak for himself.
Again, I didn't ask you.
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He does, because as the old saying goes "There are none so blind as those who will not see."
Amen!
Lying to federal investigators, isn’t that what they persecuted General Flynn for? I wonder if the hypocrisy of the left will prevent them from demanding Biden get the same treatment?
Oh ya, after they first thought he was truthful.
Someone "persecuted" Flynn? And I thought all he was is a nutball traitor who recites Q Anon oaths and asked Trump to enact martial law in America.
Another reminder that Reagan remains correct.
He would make a fine FBI Director.
Everything but the topic, John?
[deleted Flynn is too.]
JR, tell us.
Was it wrong for Joe Biden and his WH to lie about the documents???????????
No Trump necessary for this easy yes/no question.
Can you answer?
If you want to win the discussion, you should at least come prepared and argue in a logical way.
There is no logical explanation for Joe Biden's many lies, and I think that is really throwing some leftists off their game.
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I believe you're grasping at straws here regarding President Biden and classified documents. There's truly nothing to see here.
trump sycophant's desperate attempts to level the election playing field has become a hilarious running joke.
Biden continues to lie.
Democrats for the most part fall for the lies willingly.
Sad little lemmings, being told what to think by Biden's handlers.
Especially the Biden sycophants with mile wide blinders on.
Bidenettes …. In other words …. Useful idiots.
Jonathan Turley is a far-right wing propagandist employed by Fox News. Anything he has to say is suspect.
Ya! Not to be trusted.
You forgot to add fascist!😏
George Washington U disagrees:
Jonathan Turley
J.B. and Maurice C. Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law; Director of the Environmental Law Advocacy Center; Executive Director, Project for Older Prisoners
Jonathan Turley is a nationally recognized legal scholar who has written extensively in areas ranging from constitutional law to legal theory to tort law. After a stint at Tulane Law School, Professor Turley joined the GW Law faculty in 1990, and in 1998, became the youngest chaired professor in the school’s history.
He is the founder and executive director of the Project for Older Prisoners (POPS). He has written more than three dozen academic articles that have appeared in a variety of leading law journals including those of Cornell, Duke, Georgetown, Harvard, and Northwestern Universities, among others. He most recently completed a three-part study of the historical and constitutional evolution of the military system.
Professor Turley has served as counsel in some of the most notable cases in the last two decades, including his representation of the Area 51 workers at a secret air base in Nevada; the nuclear couriers at Oak Ridge, Tennessee; the Rocky Flats grand jury in Colorado; Dr. Eric Foretich, the husband in the Elizabeth Morgan custody controversy; and four former U.S. Attorney Generals during the Clinton impeachment litigation. Professor Turley also has served as counsel in a variety of national security and terrorism cases, and has been ranked as one of the top 10 lawyers handling military cases.
He has served as a consultant on homeland security and constitutional issues, and is a frequent witness before the House and Senate on constitutional and statutory issues as well as tort reform legislation. He also is a nationally recognized legal commentator; he ranked 38th in the top 100 most cited ‘public intellectuals’ in a recent study by Judge Richard Posner and was found to be the second most cited law professor in the country.
He is a member of the USA Today board of contributors and the recipient of the “2005 Single Issue Advocate of the Year” – the annual opinion award for the Aspen Institute and The Week magazine. More than 400 of his articles on legal and policy issues regularly appear in national newspapers. He also has worked as the CBS and NBC legal analyst, respectively, during national controversies.
Ya got nothing. Turdley is a RWNJ hack.
Pretty funny when they start trying to claim Turley is not 'qualified'!
You could at least pretend you read 1.5.3
Translation: Jonathan Turley says things I don't want to hear.
Anything he has to say is suspect.
Some employ that sad tactic when they can't refute what the author has written. Case in point being made here.
Uh-huh:
Professor Turley is a frequent witness before the House and Senate on constitutional and statutory issues as well as tort reform legislation. Professor Turley is also a nationally recognized legal commentator. Professor Turley was ranked as 38th in the top 100 most cited “public intellectuals” in the recent study by Judge Richard Posner. Turley was also found to be the second most cited law professor in the country. He has been repeatedly ranked in the nation’s top 500 lawyers in annual surveys (including in the latest rankings by LawDragon) – one of only a handful of academics. In prior years, he was ranked as one of the nation’s top ten lawyers in military law cases as well as one of the top 40 lawyers under 40. He was also selected in the last five years as one of the 100 top Irish lawyers in the world. In 2016, he was ranked as one of the 100 most famous (past and present) law professors. Turley was also named as the choice of the Libertarians for the next Supreme Court nominee on 2016. Professor Turley’s articles on legal and policy issues appear regularly in national publications with hundreds of articles in such newspapers as the New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today, Los Angeles Times and Wall Street Journal. He is a regular contributor for USA Today and The Hill newspaper. In 2005, Turley was given the Columnist of the Year award for Single-Issue Advocacy for his columns on civil liberties by the Aspen Institute and the Week Magazine. Professor Turley also appears regularly as a legal expert on all of the major television networks. Since the 1990s, he has worked under contract as the on-air Legal Analyst for NBC News and CBS News to cover stories that ranged from the Clinton impeachment to the presidential elections. Professor Turley has been a repeated guest on Sunday talk shows with over two-dozen appearances on Meet the Press, ABC This Week, Face the Nation, and Fox Sunday. Professor Turley has taught courses on constitutional law, constitutional criminal law,
Turley got a whole lot of something for someone who says "Ya got nothing."
Please post your resume and we can do a crosswalk with his.
Some folks just aren't easily impressed.
So many felonies if he were a Republican
He'd be in prison now.
Biden is innocent and Trump is guilty of all charges.
Only ignorant fascist fools think differently.
Ya!
Labeling very person who doesn't agree with you as fascists is really something very stupid to do.
Besides it just being downright untruthful, it paints yourself as unyielding, unhearing, and refusing to see reality.
Biden MAY be innocent, but the evidence doesn't point that way.
As Biden and Company continue to lie about it, it makes every word they utter suspect.
Yes, it's no different than labeling every person who disagrees as racist.
I take it as that is their only defense for the shit they claim.
"Hur may have growing evidence", "new evidence could prove transformative", "it appears that a critical claim...","The committee now alleges...", "If true, the evidence demolishes the timeline...", "Now it appears that the discovery had actually been made months earlier", "If this new timeline is accurate...", "We still have to see if there is evidence..., but what is clear is that the past narrative may no longer suffice."
This is an incredibly weaselly worded article.The author of this seed is the Weasel King. I especially like that it "is clear" "that the past narrative may no longer suffice". I'm going to use that.
Okay, hope this is easier.
Biden lied.
Another nothingberder regarding President Biden.
Desperation.
The author is bright, so he avoids outright lies, but still a true cult member. The entire article is written to allow your biases to produce radically different interpretations. Consider the sentence I liked:
This can be simplified to: There is no evidence, but you should think they’re lying. You went with “they’re lying”. Liberals notice the “There is no evidence”. I see a sentence which can be deleted without losing any information about the seeded subject.
I seriously don't see how anyone can look at the whole Hunter Biden selling Joe Biden scheme and come to the conclusion it was all a vast series of absolutely AMAZING coincidences that all miraculously benefitted the Biden Family to the tune of millions in foreign money, and that no one did a thing wrong.
I don't think I'll be wasting time pointing out the obvious when others are intent on wearing blinders.
Joe Biden will have to come up with some new lies regarding his family's businesses.
He knows his audience are true believers that will take his op-ed as fact. Me? I'll wait for the official report.
Regarding 'so many felonies' - they're confused and thinking of the former 'president'
Trump has been acknowledged by all fact checkers as being the most prolific liar on the planet.
Anybody who believes Trump is a low IQ fool.
Yippee.
Again, yippee.
Must say, though, you present a very compelling argument as to why Biden lies.
Unique, in a don't-make-a-lick-of-sense way.
Biden lies because Trump lies.
Well, I always wondered who was pulling Biden's strings.
Lies continuously as a matter of fact.
Isn't it rather telling when the very best 'defense' of Biden on this forum is to deflect to Trump?
"Biden isn't guilty because Trump" sounds stupid as HELL, doesn't it, to most adults?
Sounds like many here on NT.
I used to think that they would at least be embarrassed.
I don't think that anymore.
Instead they double down on stupid. What is it that one of their Ultracrepidarian's spam all over the place...."just more PD&D. That's all they have".
Biden is a good man who cares for America and Americans.
Trump, obviously, only cares for himself.
"What is something a Biden sychophant would say, Alex?"
And how much money he can rake in.
Biden will go down in history as one of our worst Presidents.
Ever ….
And to think the argument some people here on NT made was that "he notified authorities".
I guess there will be another bout of fictional "what they did was" stories coming out soon.
The geriatric putz was "surprised" he got caught.
One of our brethren here even suggested it was a Republican plant. True story.
It's like they aren't even trying.
That doesn't surprise.
What reality-denier did it? Send me PN!
You know who it is.
I do now, but there were several prime candidates to consider.
It’s a handful …. A small handful but a handful just the same.
A comment that stupid, there was one that come to mind immediately
There was more than one that came to my mind. Could have been any of 3 or 4!
I wouldn't be surprised if many of the documents were planted by RWNJs.
Annnnnd there you have it.
Lets see the left wing moon bats prove THAT bit of ignorance.
Proof? They don't need no stinking proof.....
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7 years of investigations and they all ended the same way. No proof, just made up accusations.
Nope, so far we have 91 federal criminal felony indictments issued by multiple grand juries in four states still to be tried!
And people see right through it.
Indictments?. That's not proof on anything. All that shows is that the DA convinced 12 people of something without a defense team challenge them.
What happened to all the other indictments like Bragg's indictments? Those just suddenly went away. Why? Nothing to back them up.
So what's your pathetic excuse for Biden's situation?
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I think you probably meant willful ignorance, rwnj propaganda, or debunked maga bullshit.
If that was what I meant, that is what I would have typed.
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Maybe they are so used to the WH having to 'explain' what Joe really meant they can't realize that we don't need our comments explained that way.
Then clearly you thought wrong.
BINGO!
You are correct, as always, dev.
What she did was an inventory of what was in the offices. This means something like 6 boxes of papers, 2 4-drawer filing cabinets, ... There is little likelihood that she read all the papers and listed their subjects. This is yet another example of the weaselly use of information tickling your biases. Let's see if she ever says that she saw classified docs.
The amount of mental gymnastics that must be performed to look the other way and pretend Joe is as pure as snow is staggering.
Hunter sold Joe.
Joe's brother sold Joe.
Questions really are:
What did Joe provide that allowed his family to reap millions?
And why are Democrats trying so hard to pretend nothing is there?
Why?
Partisan politics, that's why.
Both parties are constantly looking for issues to sway voters (and they have right to do so).
But for the majority of people who are less motivated by politics (those who have other concerns in their lives) care about other issues much more-- their budget, their families, their jobs...security when crimes is escalating or there is a threat from foreign or domestic terrorists.
If its not obvious which group people fall into, here's a useful test: as a general rule those who spend a considerable amount of time on social media pushing their political agenda for the most part have different prioirities than those who don't.
Then voting for Biden is voting against their own interests.
Inflation--STILL higher than when Joe took office, this 'temporary' schtick is old news now.
LOL. Get back to me when your gymnastics mature into an indictment.
I look forward to you returning with your eyes wide open.
I'll settle for an impeachment.
We don't have to have a photo of Joe cashing checks or taking a bag of money as his family has benefitted mightily.
Now as an inquisitive person, what do you think that Joe did for his family to rake in millions?
Surely you must have at least a teensy bit of curiosity about it don't you?
Or still pretending there is nothing to see here?
LOL!
What mental midget would look at it and say "piece of paper - 1" and continue to do that in an inventory?
You know what, no matter how you spin it, her "inventory" shows that the documents were there almost 2 years before they were "found". And they never notified the National Archives or enforcement agency.
You're being silly. They were vacating the office and she was sent to do an inventory. You actually think that would involve reading all the documents in various boxes and filing cabinets? You actually think that the inventory report would detail the individual papers to be moved? Do moving people now require a level of precision that I'm unaware of? What is wrong with you?
If one is doing a proper inventory, yes. How else are they to know exactly what goes and what stays?
Next excuse.
They are VACATING the office, nothing stays. I've moved my company's offices twice. We never examined all the stuff in the filing drawers/cabinets. Why would I waste people's time inventorying what papers are in the files? The fact that some boxes ended up in Joe's garage does not surprise me at all. There are still a few boxes in my cellar from the last move in 2018.
Taking a mundane activity like an office move and changing it into a nefarious operation is mental illness. This is the type of thinking that get's a cheer leader who turned down the wrong driveway shot to death, that gets a kid who went to the wrong house shot for ringing the doorbell.
The point is that there is nothing to excuse at this point. If Tomasini says she saw classified docs, then there's a problem. But right now, this backs my point to Texan that weaselly worded seeds like this one activate conservative biases achieving frightening results. I have no doubt that Tomasini is thinking WTF.
You're simply awesome!
I can see why you felt the need to delete that.
They conducted an INVENTORY. It's sad that I have to do this but below is the definition of INVENTORY:
Excuse me, but I think only liberals are allowed the luxury of inventing definitions.
The rest of us are just supposed to believe whatever liberals tell us what words mean.
Yeah, every once in a while they need to be educated. Whether or not they understand it is their problem.
Spinning ain;t helping.
The timeline doesn't seem to agree with you.
Comer: Classified Documents Timeline Contradicts White House’s and President Biden’s Attorney’s Public Statements - United States House Committee on Oversight and Accountability
Seems like something for a moving company to do-move some boxes from point A to point B.
Not really a job for lawyers and WH staff members, is it?
Based on the people I know, this is not the main issue on voters minds, so while of course partisan politics will make some voters happy it not the thing that will have much of an effect on the election.