Mark Angelides
“Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action,” wrote noted James Bond author Ian Fleming. With news that yet another stash of classified documents has been discovered – this time in the garage of one of Joe Biden’s Delaware homes – AG Merrick Garland has decided that now is the time to put a special counsel front and centre. The appointment of Robert Hur takes the investigation up a notch and yet may be something of a lifeline for the embattled president.
Setting Limits
“When special counsels are appointed, it limits our ability to do some of the oversight investigations that we want to do,” said Representative James Comer, head of the House Oversight Committee. Additionally, should Biden face tricky questions from the press, he can cite the investigation as a refusal to engage. Based upon his latest impromptu ad-lib, this can only benefit him.
When questioned about why he kept classified documents in his garage “next to his Corvette,” Biden responded, “My Corvette’s in a locked garage, OK? So, it’s not like they’re sitting out on the street.” A far cry from his administration’s protests that the initial batch of documents were secured safely in a “locked closet” at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement.
The Classic Garage Defense
A brief look at the timeline of events suggests an epic mishandling. The initial batch of documents was discovered at the Penn Biden Center on November 2, 2022. At this point, Biden’s lawyers notified the authorities and began an in-depth search of all possible locations where other files may have been kept.
Notably, the documents were found just days before the tight midterm elections, and the investigation continued in secret until after a new speaker of the House had been elected. On Thursday, January 12, the news was released that another trove had been found at Biden’s Wilmington, DE, home. In fact, that particular collection was discovered back on December 20. There is much speculation as to why the drip-drip release was favoured over a ripping off of the bandaid approach.
The initial Fourth Estate defence of Biden included the “apples and oranges” refutation, pointing out that for Biden, the documents were in a secure location, compared to the Trump papers being found at his private Mar-a-Lago residence. But with more classified material being stored in his garage and another item separately within his household, the thousands of column inches already printed have now become a professional embarrassment.
Classified Chaos and Hunter Appears
The president explained the process taking place, saying:
“People know I take classified material seriously. I also said [referencing his remarks earlier in the week] we’re cooperating fully and completely with the Justice Department’s review. As part of that process, my lawyers reviewed other documents from my time as vice president… were stored [sic] and finished last night. They discovered a small number of documents with classified markings in storage areas, in filing cabinets in my home and in my personal library… As was done in the case of the Biden Penn Center, the Department of Justice was immediately notified, and the lawyers arranged for the Department of Justice to take possession of the documents.”
As is well known, the Biden family has a track record of leaving troublesome sensitive information in random places. First Son Hunter Biden – who is presently under investigation for tax issues and foreign lobbying – would almost certainly have had access to documents stashed in his father’s garage. According to Hunter’s emails, he listed the Wilmington residence as his primary address for credit card bills in 2018.
The New York Post’s Miranda Devine shared a screenshot of a background clearance form in which Hunter claims to have been the property owner. The form was from Owasko PC, a company owned by Hunter and shut down in 2021, raising yet more questions about Joe Biden’s involvement with his son’s business dealings. The document notes that there was a rental charge of $49K per month from March 2017 to February 2018.
Support Networks?
“I have full faith and confidence in President Joe Biden,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said earlier in the week when asked if he had any concerns about Joe Biden’s handling of classified documents. Other Democrats and supporters went further in defending the president. Rep Hank Johnson of Georgia suggested that this was all part of some grand conspiracy and that the documents may have been “planted”. Speaking to reporters, the lawmaker said:
“Alleged classified documents showing up allegedly in the possession of Joseph Biden… I’m suspicious of the timing of it…
“I’m also aware of the fact that things can be planted on people, places and things can be planted … things can be planted in places and then discovered conveniently… That may be what has occurred here. I’m not ruling that out. But I’m open in terms of the investigation needs to be investigated.” [sic]
This theory was echoed by members of The View. Joy Behar despaired, “I want to see a luckier person than Donald Trump. Just as we’re this close to getting him, somehow, these documents appear!”
Despite the growing list of Biden scandals, it seems the legacy media is not yet at breaking point in its support of the president. CNN, for example, opted to fill its front page with obfuscations suggesting that “White House Missteps” were to blame for Joe Biden taking classified documents. Going further, the “most trusted name in news” attempted to muddy the waters by referring to classified documents as “vice presidential documents” in numerous instances. Naturally, the documents that Donald Trump took to Mar-a-Lago were not referred to as “presidential documents”.
To borrow a phrase, if they didn’t have double standards, they’d have no standards at all.
