OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
President Joe Biden’s classified documents scandal just got a bit more interesting after an old photograph resurfaced on social media, which shows him holding a classified document in 2013.
The resurfaced photo shows then Vice President Joe Biden holding a folder marked “CODEWORD — CLASSIFIED DOCUMENT — VICE PRESIDENT” inside the Oval Office. In the image, Biden is standing next to White House Press Secretary Jay Carney.
“The picture was taken on Sept. 30, 2013, as Biden prepared for a meeting between President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Hard copies of sensitive documents are typically only allowed in sensitive compartmented information facilities (SCIFs) — secured rooms free from cameras and other devices. The photo resurfaced as officials launch an investigation into Biden’s handling of sensitive documents dating back to his tenure as vice president,” Fox News reported.
Biden seen holding 'classified document' in resurfaced 2013 photo
Hard copies of sensitive documents are typically only allowed in sensitive compartmented information facilities (SCIFs) — secured rooms free from cameras and other devices.https://t.co/yZt1ChgOYV pic.twitter.com/TzlVuNS1SJ
— Bad Kitty Unleashed 🦁💪🏻 (@pepesgrandma) January 19, 2023
Republicans are sounding warning bells after classified documents were discovered in the garage of President Biden’s Wilmington home as well as his think tank.
There are also questions surrounding a lack of transparency on why the U.S. Secret Service does not have any visitor logs from Biden’s Delaware home.
The U.S. Secret Service revealed on Sunday that while a protection unit is assigned to Biden’s Delaware home, they do not record visitors.
“We don’t independently maintain our own visitor logs because it’s a private residence,” spokesman Anthony Guglielmi told reporters.
Republican Rep. James Comer, chairman of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, is demanding the logs and more answers.
“Given the serious national security implications, the White House must provide the Wilmington residence’s visitor log,” Comer wrote to White House chief of staff Ron Klain. “As Chief of Staff, you are head of the Executive Office of the President and bear responsibility to be transparent with the American people on these important issues related to the White House’s handling of this matter.”
Republicans are demanding answers on the lack of transparency on visitor logs from Biden’s Delaware home.
“The White House has dodged questions on a report that the Secret Service claims to have no records on who has visited Biden’s home, where the president has spent more than 25% of his time since he took office. By comparison, the visitor logs to the White House have been released,” the Washington Examiner reported.
Kentucky GOP Rep. James Comer said: “President Biden has spent a large amount of time at his Delaware residence since assuming office. Americans deserve to know who President Biden is meeting with, especially since we know that he routinely met with Hunter’s business associates during his time as vice president. The Biden Administration must provide transparency to the American people.”
South Carolina Republican Rep. Nancy Mace also demanded answers from Biden over his Delaware visits, arguing that everyone who comes “into close proximity with the President, in an official or personal capacity, is screened by the Secret Service” and that their record of coming close to the president “exists somewhere.”
“It’s bad if there is official business being conducted and they aren’t telling us with who,” Mace said. “It’s even worse the Administration is using the Secret Service to excuse its complete and total lack of transparency.”
Last month, the U.S. Secret Service admitted that no records exist of who Biden has met with at his Delaware home. The agency said no records exist of those visits as a New York Post Freedom of Information Act request was denied, Fox News reported.
The Justice Department recently announced that it had appointed Special Counsel Robert Hur to lead the investigation into Biden’s classified documents case.
Investigative reporter Paul Sperry revealed in a social media post on Monday that a “rumor” circulating in Washington, D.C., is suggestive of who may have been responsible for the news that President Biden retained a collection of classified documents, perhaps illegally, after he left office as then-President Barack Obama’s vice president.
Sperry wrote on Twitter: “NEW: Speculation growing on Hill that US Attorney David C. Weiss, the Delaware prosecutor investigating Hunter Biden, may have pressured the sudden ‘discovery’ of Biden’s private, far-flung stash of classified White House materials.”
