Double standards AGAIN; Trump vs Biden and the classified documents
Without CBS News, would we know about Biden’s mishandling of classified documents?
By Chuck Warren
The recent revelation that Joe Biden, as a former vice president and private citizen, mishandled classified documents has caused some amusing reactions by the people on the left. The righteous defenders of the secrecy of classified documents begin every discussion with “this is different than with Donald Trump.” But the detailed explanations of nuances by pundits are coming at the expense of another Democratic hypocrisy: partisan behavior of the Department of Justice, condemned under Trump, overlooked under Biden.
Mishandling classified documents is not an easy thing to do—or at least it shouldn’t be. There are many guardrails. From regulations confining physical copies within certain rooms at government buildings to using specific envelops and markings to ensure nobody misses that they are classified documents, it takes special talent to mishandle them. Yet two presidents in a row have done it, which raises the question: How common is this? Worse, one can safely assume that a mid-ranking civil servant in government would have been shown the door within minutes of such a behavior. But since 2016, every single major party nominee has been negligent in protecting America’s secrets. Those who wonder why Americans dislike their political elites can get their clue here.
And those who are curious about the distrust in our institutions should look at the Department of Justice’s handling of the announcement about the Biden affair. The documents were discovered and reported six days before the midterm elections and reported to the Department of Justice two days later, but it took CBS News two months later to tell the American people about it.
When the Department of Justice found out about the issue, Biden was on a campaign tour helping his fellow partisans. A day after the Department of Justice found out about the issue, the president was with former President Barack Obama, in Pennsylvania campaigning for John Fetterman. Had the information been public, Biden would have been asked about it, certainly not a good look on him or any Democrat who was apologizing for Biden’s poor record by invoking Trump. Not just him, every Democratic candidate would have to either condemn or defend the president, causing a campaign headache.
If you do not believe this would have affected the outcome in some close races – think Nevada’s Senate race – then I have “Ocean front property in Arizona” to sell you.
During Biden’s confirmation hearing, Merrick Garland said that he didn’t have “a political bone” in his body. 70 years old, the attorney general might be growing new bones. It is unfathomable that such an issue was withheld from him by his staff, which makes him not simply a political actor by a very partisan one. But if the information was withheld, then it might be time for Garland to look for new employees.
But either way, this is just yet another confirmation to Republican voters that the federal bureaucracy has two separate standards for the two parties. The worst part of it is that it is rather insignificant to Republican voters because they are used to this double standard at this point, that breach of trust after breach of trust has left Republicans disillusioned that the bureaucracy is against them. This isn’t to say that Trump’s Department of Justice would have withheld the information. But, unlike with the Biden administration, bureaucrats would have been at a race to leak it to the press. Thinking back at all the leaks during the Trump years, it is extraordinary that Biden was allowed to take his time.
Let us be honest and introspective, we still would not know about this Biden folly and incompetence unless CBS News broke the story (see: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/biden-center-classified-documents/).
On Wednesday, Ed O’Keefe, a reporter for CBS News, politely asked the White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre about the withholding of the story, and whether the White House knew. Repeatedly, Jean-Pierre said, “I refer you to the Department of Justice.” If the White House didn’t know, Jean-Pierre would have said so. Dodging the question, she told us that they knew. And nobody told us until it was safe.