‘C’mon man, my garage is locked’
Joe Biden on Thursday delivered remarks on the economy after another abysmal inflation report was released. Biden took some questions after he lied about the state of the US economy.
Fox News reporter Peter Doocy really ruffled Biden’s feathers Thursday morning when he asked about the second batch of classified materials found in his Delaware garage.
Joe Biden’s aides found at least one more batch of classified documents at another location.
Government officials discovered more classified documents at Joe Biden’s Delaware home – in the garage.
This is after it was revealed top secret intelligence documents related to Ukraine, UK and Iran were found in Joe Biden’s private office shortly before the 2022 midterm elections.
“Classified materials, next to your Corvette? What were you thinking?” Peter Doocy said to Joe Biden.
Biden was visibly irritated.
“My Corvette is in a locked garage, okay? It’s not like they’re sitting out on the street,” Biden said.
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Second batch of Biden documents found in the GARAGE at his Wilmington home: President struggles to read off script
Asked: ‘Classified materials, next to your Corvette? What were you thinking?’
- The latest disclosure comes from White House counsel’s office
- Lawyers uncovered a ‘small number’ of documents in Wilmington residence
- Statement says no documents were found at Delaware beach house
- Documents were in ‘storage space’ and ‘adjacent room’ in garage
- Biden has blasted Donald Trump for his ‘irresponsible’ handling of materials
A second batch of classified documents was discovered in President Joe Biden’s ‘personal library’ at his home in Wilmington, Delaware and other documents in his garage, the White House counsel revealed on Thursday – the latest bombshell comes just days after reports that sensitive documents were also found in his former office in Washington, D.C.
Richard Sauber, Special Counsel to the President, said the files were immediately handed over to the National Archives and the Department of Justice was notified.
Biden told reporters at the White House that he was ‘cooperating fully and completely’ with a Justice Department investigation as to how and why classified information and government records were improperly stored.
Peter Doocy of Fox News asked the president how he could keep ‘classified materials [in his garage] next to your Corvette. What were you thinking?’ – a reference to his classic 1967 Stingray which his son, Hunter, had rebuilt for him as a Christmas present.
‘By the way, my Corvette’s in locked garage, okay? It’s not like it’s sitting out in the street,’ Biden shot back. He confirmed the documents were kept in a locked garage, saying, ‘Yes – as well as my Corvette.’
‘People know I take classified documents,’ classified materials seriously,’ Biden said, beginning to read a prepared statement.
‘I’m going to get a chance to speak on this soon, God willing,’ he added, as reporters shouted questions. ‘We’re going to see all this unfold.’
The tense back and forth comes after Biden dodged questions during a trip to Mexico about whether he mishandled documents.
He said lawyers ‘discovered a small number of documents with classified markings in storage areas and file cabinets in my home and my – my personal library.’
‘The Department of Justice was immediately notified, he said. ‘We’re going to see all this unfold, I’m confident …’ he said. Biden’s voice trailed off, leading to a chorus of shouted questions. ‘Thank you very much,’ he concluded.
Then, amid the cacophony of questions, he pointed to the back of the auditorium in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building where he was speaking. ‘Hey how you doing? Good to see you!’ he yelled, then walked off stage.
The disclosure comes as the White House face multiple questions on why the discoveries have not been revealed until now and who was handling them.
The first set of files, found a week before the November midterms, was located in a locked closet at the Penn-Biden Center in Washington D.C.
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Classified Biden docs found in his Delaware garage next to Corvette
President Biden admitted Thursday that more classified documents were found inside his Delaware garage — near his prized classic Corvette — after the revelation Monday that 10 sensitive documents were found at Biden’s former think tank office in Washington.
The jaw-dropping disclosure comes as the Justice Department reviews whether Biden mishandled classified information — a potential crime — after he left office as vice president in 2017.
Thursday afternoon, Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed former Maryland US Attorney Robert Hur as special counsel to examine the matter.
“Classified materials next to your Corvette? What were you thinking?” Fox News reporter Peter Doocy asked Biden after he spoke about annual inflation edging lower to 6.5% in December.
“My Corvette is in a locked garage, OK? So it’s not like they’re sitting out on the street,” Biden replied, seeming to brush off the significance of the discovery.
“So it was in a locked garage?” Doocy persisted.
“Yes, as well as my Corvette,” Biden admitted.
“But as I said earlier this week, people know I take classified documents and classified material seriously,” the president added.
“I also said we’re cooperating fully and completely with the Justice Department’s review. As part of that process, my lawyers reviewed other places where documents might — from my time as vice president — were stored and they finished the review last night. They discovered a small number of documents with classified markings in storage areas and file cabinets in my home and my personal library.”
Biden added, “The Department of Justice was immediately notified and the lawyers arranged for the Department of Justice to take possession of the document [sic]. So you’re gonna see, we’re gonna see all this unfold. I’m confident.”
The 80-year-old Biden took his 1967 Corvette Stingray for a spin on an episode of CNBC’s “Jay Leno’s Garage” that aired back in October. Biden’s green convertible features a 350-horsepower V8 engine and a four-speed manual transmission.
Moments before Biden spoke, White House special counsel Richard Sauber had made the initial garage disclosure in a written statement.
“Following the discovery of government documents at the Penn Biden Center in November 2022, and coordinating closely with the Department of Justice, the President’s lawyers have searched the President’s Wilmington and Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, residences – the other locations where files from his Vice-Presidential office might have been shipped in the course of the 2017 transition. The lawyers completed that review last night,” Sauber said.
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Watch Live: AG Merrick Garland Appoints Special counsel To Investigate President Biden Mishandling Classified Documents
Kevin McCarthy: “You watched them leak photos of sitting out files of President Trump. Where is the photos of President Biden’s documents?”
Biden’s “Surprise” Grows With Reported Discovery of Second Batch of Classified Documents
There is an old story attributed to Noah Webster of being caught in a closet with a paramour. His wife cried out, “Noah! I am surprised!” Webster responded with a grammatical correction that “It is I who am surprised. You are astonished.”
The Webster story came to mind this week when President Joe Biden broke days of silence over the discovery of highly classified documents in a closet. Biden declared that he was “surprised” by the discovery but then said that his lawyers advised him not to ask (or presumably answer) other questions.
Biden was grammatically correct, if legally confused, in only describing his first reaction rather than his prior actions.
Biden was indeed surprised by the discovery. The rest of us should be astonished.
After all, it was Biden who expressed revulsion at the very thought of his predecessor possessing classified documents at Mar-a-Lago: “How that could possibly happen, how one anyone could be that irresponsible.”
Biden is not the only one who appears hopelessly conflicted. With the reported discovery of a second batch of highly classified documents connected to President Biden, the decisions of Attorney General Merrick Garland are fast moving from the inexplicable to incomprehensible.
Garland was presumably briefed that classified documents were discovered in Joe Biden’s old office on Nov. 2. He also presumably knew about the Biden documents when he appointed a special counsel to investigate the classified documents at Mar-a-Lago 16 days later.
At the time of the appointment of Jack Smith, some of us noted the inexplicable refusal of Garland to appoint a special counsel to look into alleged Biden influence peddling and other crimes.
Garland continued to refuse an appointment for Biden even as he justified the appointment for Trump on the basis that Trump was running for the presidency. Joe Biden is the president. What is the difference?
President Biden, meanwhile, is feigning ignorance, simply saying he was “surprised” the documents were there.
By not discussing the content of the documents, Biden minimizes his vulnerability to charges of obstruction or false statements. He can simply declare “surprise,” knowing that many in the media will welcome his silence as they spin the scandal.
Despite the lack of information, the press and pundits have already declared there is no real national security danger and certainly no comparison to Mar-a-Lago. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, declared “There is no comparison. They were in a locked closet. They were not accessible.”
So that is the standard? A locked closet? The Mar-a-Lago storage room was locked and later the security was enhanced at the request of the FBI.
It is fair to note that Trump and his staff are accused of false statements and obstruction. However, that does not change the same alleged crime of unlawful removal and possession.
Biden is taking a page from the Hillary Clinton playbook. Recall the long-sought Whitewater documents. After the case was effectively over, they suddenly appeared. The New York Times called the documents “elusive,” as if they moved by free will.
Clinton was also “surprised” by the discovery of the documents . . . after they could not be used as part of the earlier investigation.
There are some obvious explanations for the documents being present in the office, particularly given Biden’s work on a book that discussed his work in some of the referenced countries like Ukraine. However, even that explanation raises more questions. For example, Biden left office as vice president in 2017 and had an office at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia after finishing his term until 2019. On February 8, 2018, the Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement says that it opened its doors in Washington, D.C.
So if these documents were removed when Biden left office, where were they in the prior year and were they moved repeatedly before they ended up in the Washington office? This does not appear a “one-and-done” mistake. Rather documents may have been at various locations over a five year period.
Otherwise, Biden would have had to request and receive classified information at some point in the five years outside of a secure location.
Now that we have a second batch of documents, there is an increasing concern that classified documents were distributed or divided among different offices. This also means that an even greater array of individuals may have had access to such documents at different locations over the five-year period.
None of this could be clarified with Biden simply expressing “surprise.”
The FBI has two immediate tasks: secure the highly classified documents and then determine whether they may have been compromised.
Consider that Biden did not categorically deny asking for the documents to be taken at the end of this term as vice president.
He also did not explain when he was briefed after they were found.
Democrats and the media are eager to wave this away and move on. But, as the statements of Garland and Biden show, there are many questions that need answering. The discovery of new classified documents only magnifies those unanswered questions.
That is why we were not “surprised” but we can all be legitimately (and grammatically) astonished by the discoveries in Joe Biden’s closet — and his silence about the contents.
Jonathan Turley is an attorney and professor at George Washington University Law School.
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