OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Republican House Speaker and California Rep. Kevin McCarthy shredded President Joe Biden and the White House after two sets of classified documents have been found in places where they should not have been. Speaker McCarthy said Congress has to investigate this information when he spoke to reporters on Thursday.
“They knew this has happened to President Biden before the election, but they kept it secret from the American public?” he said. “He goes on ’60 Minutes,’ criticizes President Trump, even knowing what he was done and he wasn’t president at the time?”
That came a day after Speaker McCarthy went after the president for the first set of classified documents that were found at a private office in Washington, D.C., that he used on behalf of the University of Pennsylvania.
During an appearance on Fox News, McCarthy spoke about the latest development and what Republicans are planning to do now that they control the U.S. House of Representatives.
“Let me ask you this question. What did you make of this story about Joe Biden and top secret classified information, especially after what he said about President Trump, especially after the raid at Mar-a-Lago, especially after Hillary Clinton? Remember, the July 2016 press conference. Jim Comey said no reasonable prosecutor would ever prosecute way more top secret classified information, never mind the deleted e-mails with BleachBit and the destroyed devices with hammers and the removal of SIM cards. What does that mean now, in terms of all those Democrats that wanted Donald Trump arrested almost immediately?” Hannity asked.
“They have to eat their words, but the hypocrisy. Think about this. They have gotten away with so much for so long. This was discovered before the last election, just like the laptop. They think they can lie to the American public. They think they can control the media, control companies to shut down if one media company writes about it. They think they’re above the law. Why weren’t they raided? Why didn’t they have the FBI coming in? Why didn’t he on “60 Minutes” say, well, I understand that because I bet I have the same problem?” McCarthy asked.
“Did Barack Obama have some of this when he was writing his book? Does Hillary Clinton have some? And you know what? All those people have been in government for years. President Trump just ran for president. Do you think he knew everything? You think he went and moved his own boxes? And you know what? They were locked away. Biden’s were not. And how many years after did he have them?” he added.
“The FBI actually went to Mar-a-Lago. They looked at all those documents. They asked for a padlock. The padlock request was granted, and then, all of a sudden, a raid,” Hannity said.
McCarthy responded: “They think the law doesn’t apply to them. They think they write their own. And that’s what infuriates the American public. America believes in fairness and honesty. And that’s not what we’re getting from them.”
On Thursday the White House confirmed that the reported second set of classified documents that were found were discovered in the president’s garage, Axios reported.
“During the review, the lawyers discovered among personal and political papers a small number of additional Obama-Biden Administration records with classified markings,” the president’s special counsel Richard Sauber said.
“All but one of these documents were found in storage space in the President’s Wilmington residence garage,” he said.
Fox News White House Correspondent Peter Doocy nailed the president over his careless handling of classified documents.
“Classified materials next to your Corvette?! What were you thinking?” he said.
“My Corvette’s in a locked garage so it’s not like it’s sitting on the street,” the president said.
“So the material was in a locked garage?” the reporter said.
DOOCY: "Classified materials next to your Corvette?! What were you thinking?"
BIDEN: "My Corvette's in a locked garage so it's not like it's sitting on the street."
DOOCY: "So the material was in a locked garage?"
BIDEN: "Yes— as well as my Corvette."
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) January 12, 2023
“Yes— as well as my Corvette,” the president said.
“As I said earlier this week, people know I take classified documents and classified materials seriously,” he said. “I also said we’re cooperating fully and completely with the Justice Department’s review. As part of that process, my lawyers reviewed other places where documents of — from my time as vice president were stored, and they finished the review last night. They discovered a small number of documents with classified markings in storage areas, in file cabinets in my home and my personal library.”
