White House goes to war over Biden classified documents questions
W. James Antle III
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The White House has been taking a beating over President Joe Biden’s handling of classified materials from when he was vice president and has started swinging back.
After sensitive government documents were found at Biden’s think tank in Washington and his private residence in Delaware, Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed a special counsel to investigate. But the White House press corps and Republicans on Capitol Hill see Biden’s team hiding behind the investigation to stonewall them about what really happened and when.
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Hypocrisy, shot back White House spokesman Ian Sams. “They’ve decided that it’s time for more political stunts and theater,” he said on a call with reporters, playing the Donald Trump card. “They’re faking outrage, even though they defended the former president’s actions.”
“These are the same Republicans who didn’t make a peep when it came to the former president’s handling of material. In their moments of honesty, I think they’ve already admitted that they don’t care about the underlying issue here. We’re not going to hesitate from calling that out,” Sams said.
Former White House press secretary Jen Psaki tweeted this call “was reflection of their recognition they need to be on more aggressive footing after last week” and added that “the best defense is a strong offense.”
It’s not just House Republicans flexing their new oversight muscles that have Biden’s spokespeople trying to play. The White House daily press briefings have been disrupted by clashes over what kinds of questions Psaki’s successor as press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, can field on the documents and the veracity of past answers.
Pointing to the circular nature of being referred to the White House counsel’s office and the Justice Department while representatives of neither are made available for the kind of freewheeling briefings Jean-Pierre holds, one reporter described an “information blackout.” Another pressed her by saying, “You told us something six times that turned out to be false. Are you sorry about that?”
“So, you’re the one here talking to us about this. That’s why we’re asking you. So let’s just remember that,” yet another reporter said during a briefing. Jean-Pierre chided him, saying it was unnecessary to be “contentious.”
“We don’t need to have this kind of confrontation,” she said. “Ask your question, and I will answer them the best that I can.” But when a reporter pointed out that Jean-Pierre didn’t answer a question about whether it was appropriate for Biden to weigh in on Trump’s document problems, seemingly not a legal or technical matter, she shot back, “That’s your opinion.”
The White House continues to maintain it is not giving short shrift to transparency but rather respecting the integrity of the investigation and the sensitivity of the materials involved.
“Information is going to develop. That’s a natural part of any investigation,” Sams said. “As soon as the searches were underway looking for additional documents to be properly handed to the government, we wanted to be respectful to provide as complete information as we could, trying to balance with the need to provide information to you all consistent with the investigation.”
“As it related to an ongoing legal matter, I am going to refer you to the DOJ,” Jean-Pierre said. “As it relates to anything you want to ask of us about this legal matter, I would refer you to the White House counsel’s office. I’m going to leave it there. I’m not going to go into it further.”
Beyond that, she has said, “You guys can ask me 100 times, 200 times if you wish.” The answer from Biden’s top spokeswoman will be the same — talk to someone else.
The controversy comes at a perilous time for the White House. Republicans are taking control of key congressional committees and gaining subpoena power for the first time during Biden’s presidency. Biden is mulling a reelection bid and appears to be nearing an announcement. He now must explain to voters why his handling of classified information was better than that of his once and possibly future rival for the White House, the already-declared Trump.
To the White House, this last question is a no-brainer. Biden’s team quickly and proactively provided documents it found to the National Archives while talking up cooperation with the proper authorities. The FBI had to head down to Mar-a-Lago to collect what Trump and his associates would not hand over.
But many Republicans see a double standard in this disparate treatment by the FBI. Moreover, not all Democrats approve of Biden’s response to the controversy — including some who might not be happy about the prospect of the president running for reelection in the first place.
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“The WH keeps digging a hole deeper: they have failed to answer so many questions, which is very strange if this is all an innocent mistake,” tweeted Andrew Weissmann, a veteran of special counsel Robert Mueller’s Trump-Russia investigation. He added, “Why wasn’t this all revealed in Nov/Dec?”
Publicly, the pugnacious Biden team’s response seems to be, “That’s for special counsel Robert Hur to know and you to find out.”