Democratic Senator Debbie Stabenow said it’s ’embarrassing’ that President Joe Biden slammed Donald Trump for taking classified materials from the White House after it came out that he did the same thing from his time as vice president.
But other Democrats, like January 6 select committee member Jamie Raskin, continue to dismiss the revelation.
This month, reports emerged that Biden’s attorneys found at least 20 classified government documents at the president’s think tank in Washington, D.C. and at his private residence in Wilmington, Delaware related to his vice presidency during the Obama administration.
It comes just five months after the FBI raided former President Trump’s residence at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida and recovered thousands of materials and documents that he took from the White House.
Democratic Senator Debbie Stabenow said Sunday that the revelation of President Joe Biden taking classified documents from the White House is ’embarrassing’ after he criticized Donald Trump for doing the same thing
Biden called Trump’s actions ‘careless,’ but now NBC Meet the Press host Chuck Todd is wondering if the president has to ‘eat those words.’
‘Well, it’s certainly embarrassing, right?’ Senator Stabenow replied on Sunday morning.
‘I mean, it’s embarrassing that you would find a small number of documents,’ the Michigan Democrat added.
Stabenow may feel more emboldened to criticize the Democratic president considering she announced this month that she will not be seeking reelection in 2024 – allowing her to speak more openly without fear of how it could play with constituents.
Some documents, found in three different locations, were marked as ‘top secret’.
Rep. Raskin, while glad a special council was appointed to investigate the Biden files, also dismissed concerns over him taking classified documents from the White House, after he was highly critical of Trump doing the same thing.
‘By Biden’s own standard, wasn’t Biden ‘totally irresponsible’ with classified information?’ CNN State of the Union host Jake Tapper questioned. ‘And aren’t we right to wonder – to use Biden’s words – ‘what data was in there that might compromise sources and methods?’
Judiciary Committee Democratic member Jamie Raskin, however, dismissed the revelations, claiming people need to take into consideration the ‘proportion’ and ‘measure’ of documents found compared to Trump
‘I think we’ll get to the bottom of all of that,’ Raskin replied. ‘I mean, that’s why [a] special council has been appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland. He did the right thing there – to look into it.’
‘I’m hoping that we will keep a sense of symmetry about our analysis of these situations and a sense of proportion about the underlying offenses,’ he insisted.
Raskin claimed that people are comparing the revelation of finding classified documents at Biden’s home and think tank to Trump ‘inciting a violent insurrection.’ While this comparison has not been widely made, many on both sides of the political aisle have noted that both Biden and Trump have taken classified documents from the White House.
‘We should keep a sense of proportion and measure about what we’re talking about,’ Raskin added.
Raskin serves on the House Judiciary Committee – and was one of the nine members who served on the Select Committee probing the January 6 Capitol attack, which sought to place blame on Trump for the riot two years ago.
The latest in the Biden files shows that at least six classified documents were found at the president’s private home in Wilmington, Delaware – some of which appeared to have been haphazardly stored in boxes stacked in his garage alongside his Corvette.
Biden’s attorneys announced finding the latest batch of classified documents on Saturday.
A new batch of documents bring the total to six classified documents found at Biden’s home in Delaware – and two dozen total in three different locations
Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence was raided in August buy the FBI who seized thousands of documents and materials the former president took from the White House – while the Justice Department has appointed a special council in Biden’s case, it has not approved an FBI raid like in Trump’s case
The grand total of classified documents – many of which appear to date to his days as vice president – are now up to two dozen.
Republican lawmakers tore into Biden after the latest trove of classified documents were found at his Delaware home.
Senator Rick Scott of Florida said Biden was either a ‘hypocrite’ or ‘completely clueless,’ joining the legions of lawmakers questioning why Trump’s home was raided by armed FBI agents when documents were found at his home, but Biden received no such treatment.
Texas Senator Ted Cruz put things succinctly, tweeting ‘Full FBI raid happens when?’
Even an attorney who once prosecuted Trump during the Mueller Probe, Andrew Weissmann, said Biden was ‘digging a deeper hole’ as his administration remained vague about the investigation while more documents continue to crop up.
GOP lawmakers who joined the chorus of public criticism include Representatives Lauren Boebert of Colorado, Ronny Jackson of Texas and Jim Jordan of Ohio – as well as Senators John Kennedy of Louisiana, Josh Hawley of Missouri, Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee and Thom Tillis of North Carolina, among several others.
