Senate Dem Dick Durbin says elected officials bear ‘responsibility’ for classified materials
Jack Birle
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Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) conceded President Joe Biden has lost the “high ground” on the handling of classified documents.
Durbin proclaimed that an elected official is responsible for classified documents while speaking with Dana Bash on CNN’s State of the Union Sunday.
BIDEN CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS: WHAT IS KNOWN ABOUT WHERE, AND HOW MANY, DOCUMENTS HAVE BEEN FOUND
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“Let’s be honest about it. When that information is found, it diminishes the stature of any person that’s in possession of them. It’s not supposed to happen. Whether it was the fault of a staffer or an attorney, it makes no difference. The elected official bears ultimate responsibility,” Durbin said.
Durbin also said it was “outrageous” that either Biden or Trump’s alleged mishandling of classified documents happened, but outlined the differences between the two cases. The Democrat pointed to the cooperation of Biden’s lawyers as one of the key differences.
The senator also warned that the Biden classified document inquiry will unleash various probes by House Republicans, similar to how the GOP investigated the response to attacks on U.S. officials in Benghazi, Libya in 2012.
“We have to worry, since this new group that has taken over control of the House of Representatives [and] has promised us endless investigations, confrontations, impeachments and chaos, what’s going to happen. I only have one word for those who are dubious as to whether that will happen, and that word is Benghazi,” Durbin said.
House Republicans have promised to look into Biden’s classified documents case, with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) saying last week that they will oversee the probe as part of their “constitutional responsibility to oversee the Justice Department.”
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The Justice Department announced Saturday they found six documents at Biden’s Wilmington, Delaware residence during a nearly 13-hour search of the home. The discovery comes after various other batches of documents were found at Biden’s residence or at the Penn Biden Center in Washington, D.C.
The Biden classified documents probe is being handled by special counsel Robert Hur, who was appointed by the Justice Department earlier this month.