Joe Biden Has a Classified Documents Problem: Former President Donald Trump and Colorado Conservative sparkplug Lauren Boebert are known for raising pulses with overheated rhetoric. They also believe in taking vengeance on political opponents. That’s why when more classified documents were found in a 13 hour search on January 20 in President Joe Biden’s home, the two fire breathers leaped into action.
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Donald Trump Said He Did Nothing Wrong
Both took to social media to remind voters that the Biden administration should no longer criticize Trump about classified material found outside the National Archives.
Trump of course made the situation about himself and reminded his supporters that he is being persecuted for something that Biden did too. He declared on Truth Social that he “did NOTHING WRONG. They created this documents mess for themselves by being so totally DERANGED about me.”
Boebert Roasts White House Press Secretary
Boebert saved her vitriol for White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre. Jean-Pierre had declared at the beginning of the Biden document scandal that all searches were complete, even though other classified material was later found at Biden’s Delaware residence.
The Congresswoman called Jean-Pierre’s statement “a complete lie. The White House has lost ANY REMAINING SHRED of credibility on this issue.”
More Classified Documents Found
In another sign of the “drip, drip, drip” nature of the scandal, FBI searchers convened by the Department of Justice found six more documents on January 20 with classified markings that were from Biden’s time in the Senate and as vice president.
Senators Only Read Classified Documents in a Secure Facility
Senators are supposed to follow a policy of reading classified material in secure rooms called “SCIFs” located across the Capitol complex. They are not allowed to remove any documents from these facilities. It is not clear how Biden was able to acquire the Top Secret papers from his Senate days and stash them at his house.
What Is the Chain of Events?
The controversy dates back to November 2, when the papers in question were found at an office at a Pro-Biden foreign policy think tank called the Penn Biden Center. More classified documents were then discovered in his home’s garage and another storage location.
The DOJ has appointed a special counsel to look into Biden’s actions. Biden and his attorneys have pointed out that they have cooperated with all investigations and immediately turned over the documents as they were found. Trump is also being investigated by the DOJ. The FBI seized a large stash of 300 classified files from his Mar-a-Lago estate last August.
Many Types of Records Stored at Biden’s House
Biden’s house was chock full of records that were not classified. “The DOJ had full access to the president’s home, including personally handwritten notes, files, papers, binders, memorabilia, to-do lists, schedules, and reminders going back decades,” according to the president’s attorney Bob Bauer.
I worked in the Senate but had no security clearance. The issues I worked on – such as policy reviews on adversarial countries and work I did for the Senate Armed Services Committee was submitted to the senator’s archives stored in the Capitol or in the Senate office building after I left employment. All my notes, papers, and drafts of memos were archived. My electronic files stored on my computer and the office shared drive was archived too.
How Did the Classified Papers Get Mixed in with the Others?
So, when Biden left the Senate, he likely took all his records from his archives and moved them to his house. (Some retired senators choose to donate their archives to college libraries). The question is, how did classified material get mixed in with the archives when Top Secret papers are not supposed to be removed by the senators?
The other question is why some records were locked in storage, and others were unlocked at his house?
Does that mean Biden knew that he had classified material in his archives that should be locked in storage?
The whole thing is murky.
Hopefully, the special counsel will investigate these questions and find answers that can be shared with the public.
Until that happens, Trump and Boebert will be ready to pounce and take to social media with scorching comments about this scandal.
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Author Expertise and Experience: Serving as 19FortyFive’s Defense and National Security Editor, Dr. Brent M. Eastwood is the author of Humans, Machines, and Data: Future Trends in Warfare. He is an Emerging Threats expert and former U.S. Army Infantry officer. You can follow him on Twitter @BMEastwood. He holds a Ph.D. in Political Science and Foreign Policy/ International Relations.