Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said that President Joe Biden’s mishandling of classified documents should be treated “exactly the same way” as they treated former President Donald Trump.
The senator made his comments during an interview with Terry Meiners on Kentucky’s NewsRadio 840 WHAS in which he said Attorney General Merrick Garland made the correct decision to appoint Robert Hur as special counsel over mishandled classified documents from Joe Biden’s time as vice president that he kept in his Delaware home.
“I think the attorney general probably did the right thing by having two special counsels,” McConnell said. “What’s good for one candidate for president ought to be good for another one.”
U.S. President Donald Trump talks to the press as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) looks on after the Republican luncheon at the U.S. Capitol Building on January 9, 2019, in Washington, DC. (Photo by Olivier Douliery-Pool/Getty Images)
As John Nolte of Breitbart News demonstrated, Joe Biden keeping classified documents in his garage and other unsecured areas has greater implications than former President Trump’s due to the fact he may not have had the power to declassify documents:
The Biden documents in question have so far been found in three, count them — three — separate and unsecure locations: Joe Biden’s former office at his Washington D.C. think tank; Believe it or not, the garage of his Delaware home, the same garage where he keeps the mid-life crisis he calls a Corvette; The library of his Delaware home.
Regarding the power to declassify, there is no question that Trump had that power. However, the question surrounding the power of a vice president to declassify is much murkier.
The National Archives knew what Trump had. Further, he had these documents secured in a single location, knew what he had, knew where they were, and that location had Secret Service protection.
On the flipside…
Biden’s documents were scattered. Biden was surprised to learn of these discoveries, which means he had no idea what he had. So you can bet the National Archives had no idea what he had. Looks like wherever Joe goes, he leaves behind America’s secrets. You get the sense Biden was throwing classified documents around like confetti.
President Joe Biden speaks at the National Action Network’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Day breakfast Monday, Jan. 16, 2023, in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
When pressed on the issue, the White House has given no definitive defense, insisting that House Republicans are “playing politics.”
“House Republicans have no credibility,” White Houses spokesperson Ian Sams said in a statement on Monday. “Their demands should be met with skepticism and they should face questions themselves about why they are politicizing this issue and admitting they actually do not care about the underlying classified material.”
“President Biden is doing the right thing and is cooperating fully with a thorough review, but House Republicans are playing politics in a shamelessly hypocritical attempt to attack President Biden,” Sams continued.
