OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
President Joe Biden is in a ton of trouble.
Multiple aides who worked for Biden towards the end of the Obama administration have been questions by federal law enforcement officials, NBC News reported.
“Kathy Chung, who was Biden’s executive assistant while he was vice president and helped pack up his vice presidential office in January 2017, is among those who have been interviewed, according to the sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing inquiry. Chung currently serves as deputy director of protocol for Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin,” the report said.
A source familiar with the interviews said that the feds asked for the interviews to be compiled “quickly.”
“The people who were boxing [up the vice presidential office] had no idea that there was anything in there that shouldn’t leave the White House,” they said. “There was no decision made to take certain documents that should have been presidential records or classified.”
The sources did not know whether all interviews of the aides were complete. It is possible that the newly named special counsel could interview them again. Some of the aides who were with Biden while he was vice president are now White House staff members.
The White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment about Chung and the other aides being interviewed.
Pentagon Press Secretary Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder referred all questions about Chung’s interview to the Department of Justice.
Federal investigators’ decision to interview staff from Biden’s vice presidential office followed the discovery in November of fewer than a dozen classified documents as they packed up his office space at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement in Washington.
Biden answered a reporter’s question on Thursday on newly discovered classified documents found in his Wilmington, Delaware, garage — and his answer is a doozy.
Fox News White House Correspondent Peter Doocy nailed the president over his careless handling of classified documents.
“Classified materials next to your Corvette?! What were you thinking?” he said.
“My Corvette’s in a locked garage so it’s not like it’s sitting on the street,” the president said.
“So the material was in a locked garage?” the reporter said.
“Yes— as well as my Corvette,” the president said.
“As I said earlier this week, people know I take classified documents and classified materials seriously,” he said. “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 of — 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, in file cabinets in my home and my personal library.”
DOOCY: "Classified materials next to your Corvette?! What were you thinking?"
BIDEN: "My Corvette's in a locked garage so it's not like it's sitting on the street."
DOOCY: "So the material was in a locked garage?"
BIDEN: "Yes— as well as my Corvette."
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) January 12, 2023
But Republican Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy said Congress has to investigate this information.
“They knew this has happened to President Biden before the election, but they kept it secret from the American public?” he said. “He goes on ’60 Minutes,’ criticizes President Trump, even knowing what he was done and he wasn’t president at the time?”
On Thursday the White House confirmed that the reported second set of classified documents that were found were discovered in the president’s garage, Axios reported.
“During the review, the lawyers discovered among personal and political papers a small number of additional Obama-Biden Administration records with classified markings,” the president’s special counsel Richard Sauber said.
“All but one of these documents were found in storage space in the President’s Wilmington residence garage,” he said.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy tore into Democrats this week following news of President Joe Biden having classified documents at a private office in Washington, D.C., that he used on behalf of the University of Pennsylvania.
During an appearance on Fox News, McCarthy spoke about the latest development and what Republicans are planning to do now that they control the U.S. House of Representatives.
“Let me ask you this question. What did you make of this story about Joe Biden and top secret classified information, especially after what he said about President Trump, especially after the raid at Mar-a-Lago, especially after Hillary Clinton? Remember, the July 2016 press conference. Jim Comey said no reasonable prosecutor would ever prosecute way more top secret classified information, never mind the deleted e-mails with BleachBit and the destroyed devices with hammers and the removal of SIM cards. What does that mean now, in terms of all those Democrats that wanted Donald Trump arrested almost immediately?” Hannity asked.
“They have to eat their words, but the hypocrisy. Think about this. They have gotten away with so much for so long. This was discovered before the last election, just like the laptop. They think they can lie to the American public. They think they can control the media, control companies to shut down if one media company writes about it. They think they’re above the law. Why weren’t they raided? Why didn’t they have the FBI coming in? Why didn’t he on “60 Minutes” say, well, I understand that because I bet I have the same problem?” McCarthy asked.
“Did Barack Obama have some of this when he was writing his book? Does Hillary Clinton have some? And you know what? All those people have been in government for years. President Trump just ran for president. Do you think he knew everything? You think he went and moved his own boxes? And you know what? They were locked away. Biden’s were not. And how many years after did he have them?” he added.
“The FBI actually went to Mar-a-Lago. They looked at all those documents. They asked for a padlock. The padlock request was granted, and then, all of a sudden, a raid,” Hannity said.
McCarthy responded: “They think the law doesn’t apply to them. They think they write their own. And that’s what infuriates the American public. America believes in fairness and honesty. And that’s not what we’re getting from them.”
