Joe Biden is his own worst enemy on the classified documents story
No regrets, really?
Late last week, President Joe Biden was asked about the fact that classified documents had been found not only at an office that once housed his think tank but also at his home in Wilmington, Delaware.
“I think you’re going to find there’s nothing there,” Biden said. “I have no regrets. I’m following what the lawyers have told me they want me to do. It’s exactly what we’re doing. There is no there there.”
The following day the Justice Department found six more documents with classified markings at his home — following an extensive, 13-hour search.
It was the the third separate time that classified documents had been found in recent weeks, with some of the docs dating back to Biden’s time in the Senate.
And it was the second time in that same period of time where Biden was utterly dismissive of the situation.
Earlier this month, when first asked about classified materials being found in his garage, Biden responded this way:
"I'm going to get the chance to speak on all of this, God willing it'll be soon, but I said earlier this week — and by the way my Corvette is in a locked garage. It's not like it's sitting out in the street.”
Oh so the documents were next to your vintage Corvette in a locked garage? That’s fine then!
(As Fox News reported on the Corvette comments: “Biden dragged for insisting classified docs were stored securely next to Corvette: 'Most Biden thing ever'")
Biden’s “no regrets” comments are equally tone deaf.
Why? Because there’s no debate that Biden shouldn’t have had these documents. Period. So, he absolutely would be fine to admit that he regretted retaining them — no matter how it happened — and support the special counsel investigation to figure out what exactly happened.
West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin blasted Biden’s “no regrets” comments during an appearance on “Meet the Press” on Sunday.
"I think he should have a lot of regrets,” said Manchin adding that the ultimate responsibility for having the documents lies with Biden. "I'm going hold someone accountable, but basically the buck stops with me," noted Manchin.
In an op-ed headlined “Joe Biden’s ‘No Regrets’ Presidency,” the Wall Street Journal editorial board wrote:
“One of President Biden’s political character traits is his manifest disdain for anyone who questions his behavior or judgment. This has been on full public display since the discovery of classified documents at his office and home, and it’s drawing him deeper into a political morass.”
This is undeniably true. Biden has always bristled at even the suggestion of a misstep or — perish the thought — wrongdoing on his part. He simply shuts down and insists (as he has in this case) that his critics are ill-intended and, to directly quote Biden, “there is no there there.”
Two mitigating factors here that explain — if not excuse — Biden’s behavior:
All politicians — in both parties — HATE to have their motives questioned. Hell, all people hate that. We all think of ourselves as good people with pure motives — even if we’re not.
Biden is clearly annoyed by the comparisons between his classified documents issue and that of Donald Trump. And, as I have noted before, there are HUGE differences in the way the two men have reacted to the fact that they retained classified documents. Biden has generally followed the letter of the law. Trump, um, hasn’t.
But, Biden’s decidedly cavalier attitude about all of this simply is not helping him when it comes to managing the political reverberations coming off of this document story.
Insisting that he did nothing wrong is simply incorrect. He (or someone in his orbit) retained classified documents after he left office. That should not have happened.
Unless and until Biden can make that admission — which in no way suggests he had nefarious motives for retaining these materials — his problems will get worse, not better.
I agreed with you in the beginning that there were big differences in the two stories--primarily that Biden willingly turned over the documents when they were found. But now that the DOJ has to search his home and found still more documents that weren’t turned over, the differences between the two of them are narrowing.
Biden can no longer claim he voluntarily turned over all the documents--the DOJ had to come in and seize them themselves. It’s starting to look less like full cooperation.