Obama ethics chief blasts Biden’s ‘inexcusable neglect’ of classified documents
Ryan King
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A former Obama administration ethics chief criticized President Joe Biden’s handling of classified documents as a breach of national security protocols.
Walter Shaub, who served as the director of the United States Office of Government Ethics from 2013 to 2017, also ripped into the White House’s communication strategy on the growing scandal while differentiating it from former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago situation.
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“It’s nothing like Trump’s deliberate refusal to return classified records demanded by the National Archives, but Biden’s own retention of classified records reflects an inexcusable neglect of the most basic security protocols,” Shaub told Fox News.
Last week, reports revealed that Biden’s lawyers flagged roughly 10 documents on Nov. 2, 2022, with intelligence about Iran, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom dated from 2013 to 2016 at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement, a foreign policy-focused think tank in Washington.
Soon after, revelations surfaced of another batch discovered at Biden’s Wilmington, Delaware, garage. His team apprised the Justice Department on Dec. 20, 2022, of that second discovery. Then, last week, his team found six additional pages of material with classified markings.
“The fact that the White House didn’t mention that records were found in more than one location when first asked about them was a breach of trust with the public and a self-inflicted wound,” Shaub contended.
Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed U.S. Attorney Robert Hur last week to examine the situation. Although the Biden documents reportedly included material with top secret markings, Shaub said he believes it is “unlikely that he’s at risk of any of legal consequences.”
Meanwhile, Trump is similarly embroiled in controversy over his handling of classified documents after investigators recovered over 300 documents with classified markings from his Mar-a-Lago resort. He has denied any wrongdoing. Garland appointed special counsel Jack Smith to oversee the DOJ’s inquiry into the Mar-a-Lago debacle as well as the agency’s Jan. 6 investigations that are believed to revolve around him.
The Mar-a-Lago controversy, which has spanned multiple months, included DOJ officials repeatedly pressing Trump’s team for outstanding documents, whereas Biden’s situation entailed his lawyers initiating their own investigation to root out any lingering material.
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House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) and House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) have both opened investigations into Biden’s classified documents. Republicans also demanded visitor logs for Biden’s Wilmington home, but Biden’s team revealed that such logs don’t exist.
Biden has insisted that he is “cooperating fully” with the appropriate government authorities, and the White House has emphasized his forwardness with the DOJ upon the discovery of the material. Presidents and vice presidents are required to relinquish sensitive documents and presidential records at the end of an administration.