Jago Times "English Edition" Best Online Newspaper
Related Articles
WASHINGTON — After being put on the spot over former President Donald Trump’s handling of classified documents, Texas Republicans this week embraced the opportunity to turn the tables and roast President Joe Biden for his own apparent lapses in securing sensitive materials.
They also highlighted what they view as preferential treatment by the Justice Department compared to the FBI raid on Mar-a-Lago, the Palm Beach resort where Trump now lives.
“Democrats seem to be pulling the blindfold off of Lady Justice over Biden’s document indiscretion,” Rep. Jodey Arrington, R-Lubbock, tweeted. “The double standard would be stunning if it were not so predictable.”
Such criticisms brush past the resistance Trump displayed when it came to turning over classified materials in his possession.
Biden attorneys indicated this week the materials in question were “inadvertently misplaced” and that they acted promptly to turn them over to the proper authorities once discovering the mistake.
“As I said earlier this week, people know I take classified documents and classified material seriously,” Biden said Thursday. “I also said we’re cooperating fully and completely with the Justice Department’s review.”
Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Houston, wrote on Twitter the situation with Biden was “much, much worse” than Trump’s.
First, Biden kept classified materials at a think tank conservative watchdogs have described as a “dark-money, revolving door nightmare” where foreign countries such as China have contributed millions of dollars, Crenshaw wrote.
And then it was revealed that additional classified materials were found in a garage at Biden’s Delaware residence.
“Yet there was no raid. No ransacking of Biden’s home. Nothing,” Crenshaw wrote. “This is hypocrisy at the highest level and it’s dangerous. The appointment of a special counsel must be supplemented by a full-scale congressional investigation.”
Rep. Lance Gooden, R-Terrell, wrote to Biden posing a series of questions about visitors to the Delaware residence. He included a request for any visitor logs at the residence, if they exist.
“Storing classified documents in your garage and the Secret Service’s inability to confirm the existence of visitor logs is a potential national security breach of any information within these discovered documents,” Gooden wrote. “It is essential you and your administration are taking every step to secure classified information that could risk the safety of the American people.”
During her Thursday briefing, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was asked about visitor logs at the Delaware residence.
“There’s an ongoing review on this and I would refer you to the Department of Justice,” Jean-Pierre said.