Top Democrat Stands Behind Biden's Reelection After Documents Revelations
"I don’t think any one of us believe he packed up his boxes himself," Clyburn adds
A senior member of the Democratic leadership in the House has offered a full-throated endorsement of President Biden for reelection, even after recent news has come to light about unauthorized government documents he had in his possession.
Rep James Clyburn, of South Carolina, said Tuesday that he is “all in” for Biden to seek a second term next year.
The president has been buffeted politically in recent weeks by revelations that sensitive government documents were found by his staff at a former office he once maintained in Washington DC, as well as at his home in Wilmington, Del.
Biden deserves reelection, according to Clyburn, who has served in senior House Democratic leadership for more than a decade.
“I hope he will announce to do so. I will leave it up to him as to what the timing ought to be, but I’m all in for President Biden,” the 82-year-old Clyburn said during an interview. “I think he has demonstrated in these two years, soon to be two years, that he is deserving of reelection. And I do believe he will be reelected irrespective of who the Republicans may put up.”
Meanwhile, in a separate appearance on Fox News, Clyburn expressed “concern” over the Biden documents story, but sought to distance that affair from the huge cache of sensitive materials found last summer at Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate when FBI agents executed a legal search warrant.
“To begin with, I think all of us are concerned about this. The president has expressed concern about the handling of this as well. I don’t think that any one of us believe that he packed up his boxes himself to move out of his office,” said Clyburn, who like other House Democrats, has had to transition to serving in the minority party. “As you know, I just left my whip office, a lot of boxes were packed up. I think I may have packed one of them. So you have no idea who may have put what in what boxes.
“And these things were self-reported. It wasn’t the Archives looking for stuff, issuing subpoenas, trying to get stuff. He never claimed they were his to own,” Clyburn said of the Biden documents discoveries. “These things sometimes happen, and we don’t always respond appropriately because there’s always hindsight being 20/20.”
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