Democrats Call Out Hypocrisy as Republicans Attack Biden, But Not Trump, for Classified Docs
Top House Republican wants to dig into Biden -- but hands off Trump
Prominent Democrats have begun to more forcefully call out top Republicans for their hypocrisy as the right-wingers go full-bore against President Biden for his unauthorized retention of government documents — but refuse to even investigate Donald Trump's own, much wider documents case.
Both sides were out in full force on the Sunday television news talk shows to address the issue of Biden's and Trump's respective cases of having had sensitive federal materials when they weren't allowed to have retained them.
Republicans began to press their attack over why there wasn't release of information on the initial discovery of documents at a former Biden office back in November by saying that the president and his staff covered up to avoid scrutiny and embarrassment ahead of the November midterm elections.
And some Republicans are making even more wild, and unfounded accusations, such as baselessly claiming that Vice President Kamala Harris — and that perennial right-wing boogeyman, the president's son, Hunter — are somehow involved.
However, on the other side, Democrats largely continued to defend Biden in the face of Republican hypocrisy — even as they praise Attorney General Merrick Garland's decision to appoint a special counsel in the Biden case.
John Ratcliffe, who served as director of national intelligence under Trump, tried to make a case that documents found with Biden is even worse than hundreds of pages of sensitive and top-secret materials recovered from Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate.
“And Trey, that's where I will tell you that things get much, much worse when we compare these between President Trump and President Biden,” Ratcliffe told former congressman and current Fox News host, Trey Gowdy. “In the case of President Trump, the documents left the White House, went to Mar-a-Lago, and were under the watchful eye of the United States Secret Service 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for the last two years. In the case of Joe Biden we don’t even know all the places the documents went.
“We know that they were not kept in secure locations or that they were guarded during the six-year period of time, and we also know one of the places they went was either owned or rented by a drug addict by the name of Hunter Biden, whose associates during this period of time included prostitutes, Ukrainian oligarchs and business associates from communist China,” Ratcliffe added. “So from a national security damage perspective and from a legal perspective, I know which of these two cases I'd rather be prosecuting.”
Texas congressman, Tony Gonzales, made wild — and baseless — accusations involving the vice president.
“I also am concerned about the vice president. Vice President Harris hasn't necessarily shown her level of confidence as border czar. You know, has anyone checked, too, if she has any classified material sitting on her kitchen table?” Gonzales asked.
However, top Democrats focused on comments — and intentions — of Rep James Comer, the Republican from Kentucky who's now the powerful chairman of the House Oversight Committee.
Comer expressed outrage that Biden's attorneys would have access to what “would essentially be a crime scene,” at Biden's Wilmington, Del., home where some documents were found but added, “I don't feel like we need to spend a whole lot of time investigating President Trump.”
Democratic Rep Ilhan Omar, of Minnesota, responded, “Because any time there is a deviance in regards to security protocols that should be taken serious, it should be investigated.
“What I find interesting is that Republicans — who have defended Trump after he literally stole classified documents, refused to turn them over, lied about having them, made up some story about how he declassified them, had to have his house raided in order for those documents to be found — are now only interested in investigating Biden, who has cooperated, who his own staff and former staff have themselves turned these documents in,” Omar added. “So you have to understand, right? Republicans aren’t really interested in upholding the law, in following security protocols. What they’re interested in is playing a political game and now only wanting to investigate Biden.”
Rep Adam Schiff (D-Calif) took Comer on even more directly, particularly Comer's demand to the White House for access to visitor records from Biden's home and office — but no such demands in the Trump case.
“Well, those requests are completely hypocritical when you consider what he said about the Mar-a-Lago situation. I think Congress ought to handle both situations the same way, and that is we ought to get a briefing from the intelligence community about any potential risks to national security of where those documents were and what they contained,” Schiff said. “But Congress shouldn't try to interfere with the investigations. I think, sadly, that's what Mr. Comer's object is.
“He showed no interest in investigating the far more serious situation with about 100 classified documents at Mar-a-Lago, with evidence in the public domain of obstruction. Now he is suddenly interested in investigating President Biden,” Schiff added. “I think Congress needs to be consistent here and take the same approach. I don't think we ought to be doing things that are willfully intended to interfere with the Justice Department's work.”
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