White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre could not answer a question about classified documents reportedly found in President Joe Biden's Delaware home, the Washington Examiner reported. The president implied they were left in a locked garage with his 1967 Corvette Stingray.
Earlier in the week, a report revealed that classified documents were found in November at an office Biden had used after his time as vice president. The discovery was made just days before the 2022 midterms, but the news was not released until this week.
Reporters wanted to know why the White House had been so cagey about publicizing this information. However, all that Jean-Pierre had to offer was her repeated insistence that Biden and his lawyers "did the right thing."
Things went from bad to worse after another box of classified documents was found at Biden's Wilmington, Delaware, home Thursday. This time, Biden thought he would help his own defense by saying the worst thing possible about it.
Thinking he was helping, the president noted that the documents were secure because they were with his antique car. “My Corvette was in a locked garage, OK? So it’s not like they’re sitting out on the street," he said.
This fact led to some eagle-eyed observers pointing to a 2020 political video that showed him backing his prized Corvette into the garage -- all while a box of documents and other assorted items is visible on camera, Fox News reported. Whether those are the papers in question or not, the optics won't be easy to overcome.
Jean-Pierre was woefully unprepared to clean up that mess for him when the press sought clarification. "I will leave it to you all to pontificate and do your punditry," she told reporters."
"I will not do that from here,” Jean-Pierre added. Biden's habit of taking classified documents with him will have serious consequences considering it was unlawful for him to do as vice president, which is the time these documents are said to be from.
Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed former Maryland U.S. attorney Robert K. Hur as special counsel tasked with investigating the document debacle. "I am confident that Mr. Hur will carry out his responsibility in an even-handed manner in accordance with the highest traditions of this department," Garland claimed.
The White House has already said it will cooperate with the investigation as well. "We are confident that a thorough review will show that these documents were inadvertently misplaced, and the president and his lawyers acted promptly upon discovery of this mistake," Richard Sauber, White House counsel, said in a statement.
This all comes on the heels of a similar story involving former President Donald Trump. In his case, the FBI raided his private Mar-a-Lago and reportedly recovered more than 300 classified documents.
The double standard was not lost on House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan. "Where’s the raid?" the Ohio Republican tweeted.
"Where’s the pictures of the classified documents? Where’s the special counsel?" Jordan said prior to Hur's appointment.
This scandal involving classified documents has the potential to turn Biden's last two years in office into a circus. Regardless of the outcome, there's no doubt he needs to be adequately investigated and punished for such gross negligence.
