Althouse: "Biden’s Document Blunder Is Nothing Like Trump’s Crime."

January 14, 2023

"Biden’s Document Blunder Is Nothing Like Trump’s Crime."

That's not sarcastic. It's sincere. It's Jonathan Chait (at New York Magazine).

118 comments:

rcocean said...: Nothing like Trump's Crime.

Of course its not. Do you really think ANY Leftist or ANY MSM "reporter" or whatever Chatlit is will EVER say any Democrat is as bad (or worse) then Trump?

Always attack Trump. Never praise him. Always say he's just as bad or worse than anyone else.
This will never stop till Trump is in Jail or dead.; 1/14/23, 12:17 PM
Ambrose said...: The more the media does this, the more it plays into Trump's hand - destroying any remaining media credibility; 1/14/23, 12:21 PM
RMc said...: Democrats make blunders. Republicans commit crimes.

Wash, rinse, repeat.; 1/14/23, 12:22 PM
RMc said...: Democrats make blunders. Republicans commit crimes.

Wash, rinse, repeat.; 1/14/23, 12:22 PM
alfromchgo said...: five more found in Delaware house. Used for cat box lining?; 1/14/23, 12:25 PM
Rusty said...: We all saw this coming. Let the equivecation begin!
No. Johnathan it's worse. Because as vice president he wasn't supposed to have access to these documents.; 1/14/23, 12:26 PM
n.n said...: Declassified documents, stored in a secure location, authorized by national security, too late returned to the archives, forcibly recovered under pretense. The third impeachment. Pres Trump is like VP Biden by way of Pres Obama. That said, Biden's cache is like Clinton's water closet.; 1/14/23, 12:26 PM
Bonkti said...: Doesn't he have it backwards?

The Presidential Records Act, which applies to Trump, has no criminal aspect.The Federal Records Act, which applies to any and every other federal worker, makes it a felony to mis-handle classified records, regardless of intention.; 1/14/23, 12:27 PM
Sebastian said...: By contrast, Andy McCarthy has already explained that Biden has admitted to committing the crime:

"it appears that Biden is not challenging that the documents were classified, that the locations in which he kept them were not authorized, and that he failed to keep track of them. Why have an investigation when all the elements of the offense are established?"; 1/14/23, 12:29 PM
RideSpaceMountain said...: Jonathan Chait has officially made himself listable.
There are three types of intelligent people.
Intelligent people that believe their bullshit,
Those that don't,
And those that don't but go ahead anyway.
'Those that don't but go ahead anyway' get lead.
Usually.; 1/14/23, 12:35 PM
Rabel said...: He has sincerely bought the White House version of the story. He swallowed the whole thing.

We know almost nothing at this point.; 1/14/23, 12:37 PM
JPS said...: Why does JPS assume that whatever Jon Chait writes will be absolutely hacktastic, starting with his conclusions and then reasoning backward to support them?

Because it saves time.

I felt I owed it to our host to read the thing before rolling my eyes and saying, "All together now: That is completely different," so I did.

He lost me at the subtitle (which may not be his): "Trump is facing charges because he defied the law."

Chait may not know or care, but taking classified documents outside of a secure location is defying the law. So in that sense, "Biden's Document Blunder" is importantly like Trump's crime.

Chait spends the piece begging the question. His premise is that the important part is not, did you take documents that are defined as having the potential to cause harm / grave harm / exceptionally grave harm to national security; but, did you cooperate fully with the authorities when called out on it?

To me, and to the people he cites dismissively, it's the mishandling classified documents that matters. Chait either doesn't see this, or – I see no reason to extend him more presumption of good faith than he does to his opponents – knows this is the important part and is misdirecting to cover for his guy.

By the way, I'm open to the argument that we over-classify, sometimes absurdly. I'm just not interested in hearing from one side after their guy messes it up. Let's have that discussion when it isn't all about getting one pol off the hook.; 1/14/23, 12:40 PM
Mr Wibble said...: Of course not. What Biden did is worse. He had no authority whatsoever to remove documents from a secure facility. Even as VP, that's not his call to make.

This whole situation is hilarious. By the end we're going to find out that Biden had them stacked up next to the toilet, alongside the latest copies of Marie Claire and Outdoor Living.; 1/14/23, 12:42 PM
Michael K said...: Typical leftist projection. The same occurred when Hillary deleted emails and did "air gap" transfers of secret documents to get them off restricted government networks. If a Democrat does it, there is no repercussion.; 1/14/23, 12:42 PM
Lem the artificially intelligent said...: Trump is facing charges because he defied the law.

I thought the law was a president could de-classify, a vice president could not.; 1/14/23, 12:43 PM
Rabel said...: "The obvious answer is that Biden didn’t refuse to give back the documents. Indeed, his lawyers volunteered that they had the documents and turned them over immediately. There was nothing to raid."

The next story down at the New Yorker: "Lawyers for President Joe Biden found more classified documents at his home in Wilmington, Delaware, than previously known, the White House acknowledged Saturday."

Cool. Life comes at you fast.; 1/14/23, 12:45 PM
Original Mike said...: The whole time I was reading that I couldn't help but think, "Now do Hillary". Seriously, read the article while replacing every instance of 'Trump' with 'Hillary'. Fits like a glove.; 1/14/23, 12:46 PM
Gahrie said...: Of course it isn't. Biden has a "D" after his name.; 1/14/23, 12:47 PM
Beasts of England said...: They just found a fourth stash of classified documents related to Joe. And the Vice President doesn’t have any declassification authority. Chait is a moron.; 1/14/23, 12:47 PM
Yancey Ward said...: Chaithead is a shameless hack.; 1/14/23, 12:49 PM
gilbar said...: from the article...
The motive instead seems to be that Trump does not believe the law applies to him.

HOW could That BE??
Did Trump think that he was a democrat?; 1/14/23, 12:52 PM
Static Ping said...: "Sincere" does not mean "well thought out." I suppose it may mean "honest" though fake sincerity is a one of the tools of a con man.

My favorite part is this:

"If Trump’s lawyers had informed the National Archives that he’d mistakenly taken classified documents, or even if they had responded to requests from the archives by turning them over, the FBI never would have been involved."

You have to be a complete fool to believe this. The FBI has proven itself repeatedly to be corrupt and politically motivated. It is so obvious that to make this statement indicates a separation from reality so large that any statement from this person much be brought into serious doubt. Mr. Chait is, indeed, a fool, and should be treated as such.; 1/14/23, 12:53 PM
Iman said...: Biden’s boffo blunder must be thoroughly investigated by independent parties, with as little DOJ involvement as is possible. Follow the money… which foreign countries were of interest?… fingerprints… DNA…

Chances are this guy and his handlers were covering his tracks… one thing’s for certain: it involved the Biden Crime Family’s business… pricks were making money off it.; 1/14/23, 12:58 PM
RoseAnne said...: As I am writing this, the story is that more than 1 document has been found at more than one additional site. Documents found on November 2nd were not announced until January 2023. That announcement did not include documents found in December 2022. Biden's people announced a comprehensive search had been completed - did that search find the additional documents found today or was the search not all that comprehensive?

Capehart (and others) have said Biden turned over all the documents as soon as they were discovered unlike Trump. How do we know that when his own lawyers can't get their story straight about the documents and their locations?

I remember a discussion at the time of the Mira-Lago raid about Trump having turned over some of the files already. He had been directed to install a better lock on the ones remaining. While much has been made of the issue I have seen nothing that said precisely how many forms were classified at every level from those seized in the raid. How do we know whose stash was "worse" when we never heard a definitive report?

I am one who believes security classification is overdone in Washington, but, due to the lack of transparency on the part of the Biden Administration, I think it is time for search warrants. The fact 12 documents have been turned over doesn't prove there were only 12 documents to start.; 1/14/23, 12:59 PM
John henry said...: Assumes facts not in evidence.

How do we know Biden's handling was a "blunder". As in accidental or careless, not on purpose?

How do we know that pdjt's was a "crime". He has not been charged with, much less found guilty of any crime.

Writing like this makes me ashamed to be a journalist.

John Henry; 1/14/23, 1:01 PM
Bob Boyd said...: TDS is real.; 1/14/23, 1:03 PM
mikee said...: Well, as long as we convict Trump before charging him, I guess we can wait for the sentence.
And as long as we never charge Biden, there won't be a need for conviction, right?; 1/14/23, 1:04 PM
Bob Boyd said...: Maybe all the swamp creatures in Washington should support Biden with a #MeToo campaign for mishandling classified documents.; 1/14/23, 1:09 PM
retail lawyer said...: Like so many disputes, I find myself wanting prosecutions just to find out what the law really is. Fortunately, the partisan headline gives away the partisan contents of the article, eliminating the need to actually read the article.; 1/14/23, 1:10 PM
Lloyd W. Robertson said...: Chait's partisan stupidity is nothing like Trump's careless crassness.
Chait's systematic abandonment of the professional ethics in which he was trained is nothing like Trump's flexible freedom from ethics when he wants to achieve an objective.

I desperately raise my hand at the back of the room and squeak out: Mr. Chait! Mr. Chait! Trump has never been charged with a crime! He's 75 or something--almost as old as senile guy!; 1/14/23, 1:13 PM
tim in vermont said...: Lack of mens rea, just like Hillary.

You have to hand it to them, they convince their readers that they are smart, then treat them like morons, and it works.; 1/14/23, 1:14 PM
Chuck said...: I'm sincerely curious; what part of Chait's very short essay is it, that you find risible, Althouse?

It's just 12 paragraphs! The sentences are short, grammatical, declarative.

Which one(s) were mistaken?; 1/14/23, 1:15 PM
n.n said...: A chit, a chat, a Chait from New York Maga...!; 1/14/23, 1:19 PM
D.D. Driver said...: So... the difference is Trump didn't genuflect? Is that just a different legal strategy *after* you got busted?

Seems like if *protecting sensitive information* is the goal, Trump's naughtiness led to waaaaaay less risk than Biden's Johnny Appleseeding the East Coast with top secret documents.; 1/14/23, 1:21 PM
madAsHell said...: It wasn't a blunder. It was deliberate. It ain't cheap keeping an old Corvette.; 1/14/23, 1:23 PM
John henry said...: Havi g read about half the article let me add

What a crock of shit

John Henry; 1/14/23, 1:27 PM
wendybar said...: WHY is he vacationing there, instead of an FBI raid which SHOULD be happening if this were a fair and balanced country.

Charlie Savage
@charlie_savage
·
2h
BREAKING: 5 more pages of Obama-era classified docs were found Thurs evening stored in a room adjacent to Biden's garage, the White House disclosed on Sat. The files came to light when DOJ went to pick up a page Biden's lawyers had found Wed night https://nytimes.com/2023/01/14/us/biden-classified-documents-delaware.html

Sean Davis
@seanmdav
I like that they won’t tell you what room (merely “adjacent to the garage”), just like they tried to initially hide that documents were found in the garage. Which room was it? A mud room? A bathroom? Hunter’s opium den? Details matter.; 1/14/23, 1:31 PM
Tank said...: Actually read this. So lame you have to laugh.

Trying. Too. Hard.; 1/14/23, 1:32 PM
tim in vermont said...: At the airport looking at magazines, and it’s amazing how all of the “quality” glossies have Trump or MTG on the cover.; 1/14/23, 1:34 PM
Ampersand said...: The sad truth is that Jonathan Chait almost certainly believes every word of what he says. The people at the the political poles (by which I mean 70% of the population) live in mutually exclusive spheres of thought that preclude access to the other side's perceptions. It's a bad time for productive dialogue. Lots of certainty, and not much agreement.; 1/14/23, 1:35 PM
William said...: Let me save you some time and sum up Chait's blatherous piece in three little words:

Orange man bad.; 1/14/23, 1:41 PM
traditionalguy said...: The corporate Media’s fear of a reformer coming to power in DC has gone mad. The Spanish Inquisition had nothing on the permanent Trump Inquisitors.

And they are not just seeking to stop Trump. They fear his supporters votes being counted far more. Slanders and bare faced lies about traditional thinking American citizens are being published 24/7 seeking our destruction.

Being hated for our very existence is strange. At least we now have Jordan,
Peterson, Joe Rogan and Douglas Murray to show us how to understand this organized insanity.; 1/14/23, 1:55 PM
wildswan said...: Republicans commit crimes; Democrats merely blunder. I think that trying to sell Joe Biden, Kamala Harris and the zany left as up the job of leading the free world will in the end prove to be, like the Charge of the Light Brigade, a basic blunder.
When Hillary had an unsecured server which would broadcast all our most important deliberations to anyone interested, that was a blunder. When Obama did not immediately turn millions of documents over to the Archives and still has not done so, after six years, that was and is OK. The Archives know he is doing it and have said it is OK. When Trump had several hundred documents which he had not turned over the Archives said it was not OK for him to do on a lesser scale what Obama is now doing. So Trump is a criminal. When Biden kept documents in various places he told the Archives about it after several years. The Archives said it was merely a blunder.
As others have said, the Dems have a double standard which they seem to think means that they have twice as many standards which are twice as high. As a result, they can only blunder which they think is a safe kind of way to be.; 1/14/23, 1:56 PM
Maynard said...: Of course, the two situations are different.

Trump had the power to declassify documents and Biden did not.

Trump had his documents secured and Biden hid them in a garage.

It seems that leftists are in two camps here. Some are making the usual ridiculous defenses of Biden and others are trying to use this to get rid of Biden (now or in 2024).

I am mostly interested in what documents were found in both cases. It should be telling.

I am also interested in how government officials protect themselves with making documents "Secret".; 1/14/23, 2:00 PM
donald said...: It’s Jonathan Chait. He is not sincere.; 1/14/23, 2:06 PM
NCMoss said...: The current media narrative has been that "day 1" of the classified documents (discovery) began in Nov 2022 but that's not even partially true. Someone had to know the nature of the documents years ago when they were brought to the Penn Center and biden's garage. Nov 2022 is simply when they made the information public.; 1/14/23, 2:11 PM
Original Mike said...: "…one thing’s for certain: it involved the Biden Crime Family’s business… pricks were making money off it."

THIS is what I want to learn more about, Jonathan. Please do some reporting.; 1/14/23, 2:16 PM
Roger Sweeny said...: I am strong-willed.
You are stubborn.
He is bull-headed.

Biden made a blunder.
Trump committed a crime.; 1/14/23, 2:17 PM
Michael said...: Five more pages they write. Is that one document or five? I guess the latter.; 1/14/23, 2:24 PM
chuck said...: This is why Chait gets paid the big bucks.; 1/14/23, 2:29 PM
mezzrow said...: This is not like the Trump documents.
Let's take the Mafia premise floated on the All-in this week. Imagine this as a visit from Tom Hagen to Johnny Fiveangels that it's time to do the right thing and go away with dignity, like a man. We know they have all the Hunter stuff, they have these docs dripping into the media day after day, and they have so much more that Joe and the consigliere know of and of which we are unaware...
The signal is out to the party organs, and we await the sign regarding who the mandate of heaven will fall upon. Does Joe still have what it takes to do the right thing? What distant cousin must be summoned from Scranton (or Ireland) to appear in the Oval Office doorway to make the need real?
Drip. Drip. Drip.; 1/14/23, 2:36 PM
tim in vermont said...: Chuck, life long Republican, has arrived to defend Joe Biden storing documents where his son, in the pay of both China and Ukraine, had easy access to them. It’s not the stuff Chait says, it’s the stuff he leaves out.; 1/14/23, 2:39 PM
Jim Howard said...: My comment on the referenced article:

The author has it bass-award. It is a very serious serious crime to lose classified, especially SCI level,documents. This is criminal negligence. Especially if the documents were left in a building owned by person with strong financial ties to China.

Trump had a legal issue with the Biden administration. There was never any doubt as to where the documents were, nor was there any doubt that Trump had the clearance required to access these documents.; 1/14/23, 2:47 PM
Jim Howard said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 1/14/23, 2:48 PM
zipity said...: Biden's document blunder is nothing like Trump's crime"

You got that right. Where are the armed to the teeth FBI agents raiding various Biden homes?

Double standards anybody?; 1/14/23, 2:53 PM
D.D. Driver said...: As a hater of both parties, I would gain respect for the side that holds their own accountable.; 1/14/23, 3:00 PM
Inga said...: Maybe this is why AG Garland appointed a Special Counsel so quickly. No president is above the law, D or R, doesn’t matter. This entire thing smells to high Heaven and Americans need to know if either president broke laws and if they did they should be prosecuted. I want to know just how,why and when people, his lawyers, whoever, got a heads up that there were classified documents in Biden’s various homes, offices and garages. What prompted such searches?; 1/14/23, 3:03 PM
rhhardin said...: There's nothing wrong in either case. It's just soap opera for the respective clickbait audiences.; 1/14/23, 3:11 PM
Jim at said...: I just don't even care what these leftists have to say anymore. They're dishonest, lying assholes and it's not worth the effort to give a shit about their thoughts, words or deeds. On any subject.

I want them out of my life.; 1/14/23, 3:17 PM
Vance said...: I thought Chuck had given up being so transparently pro-commie? Guess not.

Only Chuck could claim, with a straight face, that Biden storing top secret documents on Ukraine next to his Corvette where Hunter Biden, taking bribes from Ukraine, had unfettered access... and that JOe Biden storing top secret documents about China in an office that he literally gave a key to Chinese firms to --yes, only Chuck could claim that Joe Biden is far more secure than Trump keeping documents in a locked safe under 24 hour surveillance in a locked room under Secret Service protection.

Well, maybe Inga will also claim that.; 1/14/23, 3:26 PM
Steven Wilson said...: I don't know if you could break this to Chait, but considering how he has been investigated to no effect by his enemies, I'd have to say that Trump is the cleanest politician in modern times.

And as for Chait's assertion that if Trmp were to shoot someone on Fifth Avenue Trump's allies would start talking about Cheney's hunting accident, well we wouldn't have to do that. We could talk about the two time presidential nominee Adlai Stevenson who (accidentally no doubt) killed a friend when Stevenson was 12. Do you think that would be a little known fact had it happened to Ronald Reagan. I can see the news stories now Ronald Reagan, the Republican candidate for president who "accidentally" shot a friend..."

During the Clinton years, the journalist Evan Thomas (grandson of the six time Socialist candidate for president) averred that the media was worth fifteen points for the Democrats. He wasn't boasting or apologizing just expressing a well founded belief. I wonder to what extent that has grown.

Recently a friend of mine who is a physician, pro-life, and at one time anyhow a Republican, asked me who was crazier, Trump or Musk. Without missing a beat I said "Biden." He has succumbed to the constant drumbeat of headlines from the major news sources. It never occurred to him that Musk may have purchased Twitter for reasons other than financial acumen.

I know it's always been fashionable to portray the Republican as the stupid candidate, but I defy anyone with a straight face to produce convincing evidence that there has ever been a more intellectually challenged duo than Biden and Harris. In fact, I doubt that you can produce a single president or vice president who hasn't ascended to a higher intelligence level than either of them. Oh, hell let's go one further and say if we added their IQs they might not outsmart any past president. I'd like to chase another operation here and suggest that even multiplying one with other they wouldn't have a higher IQ, but that's a bridge too far for even me.

This is what the media have produced. It tells us we need to know about them. You shall know them by their fruits.

As Tim in Vermont said above:

"You have to hand it to them, they convince their readers that they are smart, then treat them like morons, and it works."; 1/14/23, 3:27 PM
Steven Wilson said...: I don't know if you could break this to Chait, but considering how he has been investigated to no effect by his enemies, I'd have to say that Trump is the cleanest politician in modern times.

And as for Chait's assertion that if Trmp were to shoot someone on Fifth Avenue Trump's allies would start talking about Cheney's hunting accident, well we wouldn't have to do that. We could talk about the two time presidential nominee Adlai Stevenson who (accidentally no doubt) killed a friend when Stevenson was 12. Do you think that would be a little known fact had it happened to Ronald Reagan. I can see the news stories now Ronald Reagan, the Republican candidate for president who "accidentally" shot a friend..."

During the Clinton years, the journalist Evan Thomas (grandson of the six time Socialist candidate for president) averred that the media was worth fifteen points for the Democrats. He wasn't boasting or apologizing just expressing a well founded belief. I wonder to what extent that has grown.

Recently a friend of mine who is a physician, pro-life, and at one time anyhow a Republican, asked me who was crazier, Trump or Musk. Without missing a beat I said "Biden." He has succumbed to the constant drumbeat of headlines from the major news sources. It never occurred to him that Musk may have purchased Twitter for reasons other than financial acumen.

I know it's always been fashionable to portray the Republican as the stupid candidate, but I defy anyone with a straight face to produce convincing evidence that there has ever been a more intellectually challenged duo than Biden and Harris. In fact, I doubt that you can produce a single president or vice president who hasn't ascended to a higher intelligence level than either of them. Oh, hell let's go one further and say if we added their IQs they might not outsmart any past president. I'd like to chase another operation here and suggest that even multiplying one with other they wouldn't have a higher IQ, but that's a bridge too far for even me.

This is what the media have produced. It tells us we need to know about them. You shall know them by their fruits.

As Tim in Vermont said above:

"You have to hand it to them, they convince their readers that they are smart, then treat them like morons, and it works."; 1/14/23, 3:29 PM
William Tyroler said...: "It was worse than a crime; it was a blunder." Chait's rhetoric is self-defeating.; 1/14/23, 3:31 PM
Jupiter said...: Let's see if we can think of a lie so egregious that Jonathan Chait would be unwilling to put his name to it. Hmmmm ...... nope.; 1/14/23, 3:38 PM
Steven Wilson said...: I don't know if you could break this to Chait, but considering how he has been investigated to no effect by his enemies, I'd have to say that Trump is the cleanest politician in modern times.

And as for Chait's assertion that if Trmp were to shoot someone on Fifth Avenue Trump's allies would start talking about Cheney's hunting accident, well we wouldn't have to do that. We could talk about the two time presidential nominee Adlai Stevenson who (accidentally no doubt) killed a friend when Stevenson was 12. Do you think that would be a little known fact had it happened to Ronald Reagan. I can see the news stories now Ronald Reagan, the Republican candidate for president who "accidentally" shot a friend..."

During the Clinton years, the journalist Evan Thomas (grandson of the six time Socialist candidate for president) averred that the media was worth fifteen points for the Democrats. He wasn't boasting or apologizing just expressing a well founded belief. I wonder to what extent that has grown.

Recently a friend of mine who is a physician, pro-life, and at one time anyhow a Republican, asked me who was crazier, Trump or Musk. Without missing a beat I said "Biden." He has succumbed to the constant drumbeat of headlines from the major news sources. It never occurred to him that Musk may have purchased Twitter for reasons other than financial acumen.

I know it's always been fashionable to portray the Republican as the stupid candidate, but I defy anyone with a straight face to produce convincing evidence that there has ever been a more intellectually challenged duo than Biden and Harris. In fact, I doubt that you can produce a single president or vice president who hasn't ascended to a higher intelligence level than either of them. Oh, hell let's go one further and say if we added their IQs they might not outsmart any past president. I'd like to chase another operation here and suggest that even multiplying one with other they wouldn't have a higher IQ, but that's a bridge too far for even me.

This is what the media have produced. It tells us we need to know about them. You shall know them by their fruits.

As Tim in Vermont said above:

"You have to hand it to them, they convince their readers that they are smart, then treat them like morons, and it works."; 1/14/23, 3:39 PM
Lem the artificially intelligent said...: None of the Trump sons and daughters were paying $49,910 in rent at Mar-a-lago.

That’s a big difference between the two scandals… if you ask me.; 1/14/23, 3:39 PM
rehajm said...: Biden has already officially admitted to every element that makes his possessing and mishandling of classified documents a crime. Why even bother investigating?; 1/14/23, 3:40 PM
ccscientist said...: Obama openly defied the records office and simply kept a ton of classified docs. No one dare question him because racism.; 1/14/23, 3:48 PM
Original Mike said...: Read this report and try and square it with Biden's statement: "Biden earlier told reporters he was “surprised” to learn about the classified documents discovery, and claimed he did not know what was in the records."

You can't, unless it was someone other than Joe who was reading and handling these documents.; 1/14/23, 3:58 PM
Original Mike said...: This comes as no surprise, but Joe isn't as smart as Hillary. You wait until (just) after the statue of limitations times out before you "discover" your troublesome documents.; 1/14/23, 4:04 PM
guitar joe said...: Down deep, do you really care? I mean, if you're a Dem, try to find an iota of concern for Trump having those docs. Same thing if you're GOP and Biden's similar cock up. It is getting a bit wearisome to see people get predictably worked up when the other side does something and then giving a pass to their own. But, in this case, I just can't get concerned about what either of these guys have done. It's just an excuse to fill air time.; 1/14/23, 4:07 PM
Mike of Snoqualmie said...: Lack of mens rea, just like Hillary.

You have to hand it to them, they convince their readers that they are smart, then treat them like morons, and it works.

Hillary and Joey are required to protect classified information and not mishandle it. No mens rea required. Their supreme indifference to protecting the classified information is sufficient to prosecute them, James "My job is to protect Democrats" Comey not withstanding.

Those documents were removed from secure storage and walked out of that storage. That's a deliberate act. I'm willing to bet that the chain-of-custody documents were not filled out. A classified document has a "library card" that must be filled out when it it transferred from one person to another or when it is removed from secure storage.

I don't buy the excuse of chaos packing. Those documents should never have been in the VP's office in the first place. Joey or an aide removed them from secure storage. In either case, Joey is responsible, just like Hillary "30,000 recipe" Clinton was. She deliberately spilled classified info and should be spending life at Ft. Leavenworth, KS.; 1/14/23, 4:08 PM
BUMBLE BEE said...: I quote Billy Blaze... "Always be sincere whether you mean it or not".; 1/14/23, 4:24 PM
Big Mike said...: Over at Instapundit.com Charles Glasser responds to Chait, and others of a like kind:

I’VE COINED A WORD: “FOOLSPLAINING.” That’s when a moron ties to convince you of something that no rational person could believe, but it takes root with other like-minded fools.

The apologists trying to minimize Biden’s irresponsible handling of classified documents by comparing it to Trump’s is one such example of fools “explaining” things to us hoi polloi.

Their excuses are so sad, even the WHCA lapdogs aren’t buying it as eagerly as they would in the past. “Oh, Biden is cooperating, that’s a big difference.” Nope. It’s like saying, “I shot up the schoolyard, but surrendered when the cops encircled me. Please reward me for my restraint.”

Just to remind the morons who cannot fix it in their foolish little brains as to what the laws are that surround the handling of classified information, Joseph R. Biden’s mishandling of classified information was a crime. It is a violation of federal statutes. There is mitigation for lack of mens rea, nonwithstanding anything James Comey claimed regarding Hillary Clinton. There is no mitigation for your lawyers’ cooperating with authorities. When you sign up to receive classified information you are Aldo signing up to handle it securely, or else. Joseph R. Biden should not be residing at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue — he needs to finish out his days in the federal penitentiary in Leavenworth, KS.

By contrast, under the law, Donald Trump does not appear to have committed any crime whatsoever. Now, hyper-partisan Jack Smith may be able to make something up and get the case in front of a jury in DC, New York. Madison, or any other place that is wall to wall whack jobs, and thus he may be successful in taking down Donald Trump. But we’re not talking about law nor are we talking about justice. We are talking about retribution for defeating Hillary Clinton.; 1/14/23, 4:35 PM
donald said...: “This whole situation is hilarious. By the end we're going to find out that Biden had them stacked up next to the toilet, alongside the latest copies of Marie Claire and Outdoor Living”.

More like Swank, Penthouse and Hustler I’d say.; 1/14/23, 4:52 PM
boatbuilder said...: This is really just stupid.

The reason for the Trump nonsense (including the outrageous FBI raid) is that there was and is a dispute between the outgoing President and..the National Archivist...over whether the former President had the right to the documents, or whether the national archivist did/does. The question is still in dispute.

The existence of the dispute was acknowledged by the parties involved, the documents were sequestered and protected--as per the agreement of the parties to the dispute--when the DOJ controlled by the subsequent President decided to engage in a pre-dawn raid.

There has been no determination that Trump committed any "crime," nor, despite the reasons advanced for the unprecedented raid, and the possession of the documents by an appointed Special Master of the Court designated for the resolution of such issues, no indication whatsoever of any national security threat.

There is no question whatsoever that Biden had no presumptive right to the documents, or that they were properly protected from disclosure. The only question is whether the taking of the documents was a mistake or intentional on Biden's part. Which is not actually a defense. Perhaps if Biden had "come clean" 7 years ago, he might be given a pass. After very publicly as President of the United States asserting that the alleged possession of classified documents by his predecessor was unforgivable, he cannot claim to be unaware of the gravity of the act. He's guilty. Sloppiness is his only defense--and it is a defense only in the court of public opinion.

So, yes, the cases are very different.; 1/14/23, 5:02 PM
boatbuilder said...: Also--apparently nobody clued Chait in to the purpose of all this--get Joe out of the way!; 1/14/23, 5:03 PM
The Godfather said...: If I were still practicing law, and I were asked to advise Biden, I'd advise that he pretend that he was in the same position as Trump. So ignore the difference between the President (who can declassify) and the VP (who can't), and ignore the difference between having kept documents just after having left office, and having retained classified dox for 6 years, and ignore the fact that Biden and his cronies have been making political hay over Trump's documents, so OF COURSE when they're caught doing the same thing they'll call their friends in law enforcement, and ignore that Biden's drug-addled son had access to the secret files in the Biden garage, etc.; 1/14/23, 5:23 PM
Lurker21 said...: The real mystery is what is in those documents.

But that won't be revealed in our lifetime.

I suspect Biden's documents may be more sensitive and seriously secret than those the FBI allowed the press to photograph at Mar-a-Lago.

Something more than just love notes from BoJo, Macron, and Rocket Man.

When they said the documents were at the Penn Biden center, they didn't say that they were in Biden's private office there.; 1/14/23, 5:34 PM
tim in vermont said...: FBI found lack of mens rea in Hillary’s case, even though that’s not an excuse under the law, ‘D’ after the name required for this exemption.; 1/14/23, 5:38 PM
Bushman of the Kohlrabi said...: It’s just a stutter!

Anyway, pretty hard to convince Americans of wrongdoing after Hillary was allowed to walk. Her crime was much worse than T-rumps and Dementia Joe’s combined.; 1/14/23, 5:48 PM
Ambrose said...: "We mustn't underestimate American blundering. I was with them when they blundered into Berlin in 1918."; 1/14/23, 5:58 PM
FleetUSA said...: Over the years it appears that Democrat voters are very gullible. They believe all the lies they are fed by their leaders.; 1/14/23, 6:03 PM
Joe Biden, America's Putin said...: T in V is right. All it takes to be above the law is having a D behind your name.; 1/14/23, 6:03 PM
Mike of Snoqualmie said...: There are two ways to legally move a classified document from one secure area to another. The first way is to double wrap the document, with the inner wrapper declaring the level of classification. That bundle must be in the courier's possession at all times until it arrives at the destination secure area. Fine if the two areas are close together and the journey can be completed in a few hours.

The second way is to have the document shipped via secure courier, which the security focal of the area can arrange. This is the method anyone would want to use for long journeys. It moves the burden of properly caring for the document at all times on to someone who knows all the ins and outs of long journey transports.

Joe Biden did none of these. The classified documents were removed from a secure area and just thrown into moving boxes, probably by some hapless aide. That's gross negligence at minimum. Maybe intentionally spilling of classified information like Hillary did.; 1/14/23, 6:08 PM
walter said...: I can picture Hunter using them as wrapping paper.; 1/14/23, 6:12 PM
Quaestor said...: This will never stop till Trump is in Jail or dead.

Delete all after stop. Chait isn't expressing an opinion. He's repeating the catechism of his primitive religion.; 1/14/23, 7:01 PM
Ambrose said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 1/14/23, 7:19 PM
Ambrose said...: "@FleetUSA - Over the years it appears that Democrat voters are very gullible. They believe all the lies they are fed by their leaders."

In fairness, a lot of them are deceased ....; 1/14/23, 7:20 PM
Breezy said...: Joe raided Don to find unclassified docs. Don can declassify, so ipso facto, Joe found none. Because there is a Conservation of Classified Docs Law, Joe had to be searched to find same. And so it was done.; 1/14/23, 7:22 PM
Chuck said...: Haha.

See y'all in court. And by the way, it'll be the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.; 1/14/23, 7:45 PM
Bushman of the Kohlrabi said...: Of course it’s (D)ifferent. It always is.; 1/14/23, 7:45 PM
Dude1394 said...: It is true, it is nothing like trumps. Biden is guilty of a crime while trump is not. Big difference.; 1/14/23, 8:05 PM
Joe Biden, America's Putin said...: After all these years - why are documents found by his corvette?
Who found them?

the whole things smells. It smells like a fake out to cover bigger crimes; 1/14/23, 8:07 PM
Michelle Dulak Thomson said...: Roger Sweeny,

Are you getting your political humor from Yes, Prime Minister? Because IMO there's no better source. It's as good at "political irregular verbs" as it is at anything else.

Compare:

"I have an independent mind; you are eccentric; he's gone round the twist."

or

"I give confidential briefings to the press; you leak; he has been charged under Section 2(a) of the Official Secrets Act."

Honestly, if there is anything about politics -- US as well as UK -- that that show did not anticipate, I don't know what it is.; 1/14/23, 8:14 PM
doctrev said...: We know who you are, Charles "Chuck" Randall. And if we want to meet you, we will.; 1/14/23, 8:17 PM
Gahrie said...: On Thursday I was teaching about FDR and I mentioned that he was handicapped, but the media hid that information from the public. One of my kids said "they copuld never get away with that today.". My response was: "Ever heard of Hunter Biden's laptop?" One kid raised their hand. I spent the rest of the period talking about the laptop, the cover up and the censorship.; 1/14/23, 8:45 PM
Paul said...: The documents found in Biden's possession... so far ... were the ones HE COULD NOT SELL.

All the rest are gone... to Russia, China, Ukraine, North Korea, Iran, etc....

And Big Daddy got his 10%.

See he left them were they could be 'found'.. and invited God Knows Who there to browse.

Hence not visitors log.

And those who voted for him... or just didn't vote... HE IS YOUR PRESIDENT.

Reap what you sow.; 1/14/23, 9:11 PM
Drago said...: Whenever a far left "journalist" goes completely bonkers LLR Chuck is always at the ready to leap to their defense...to conserve "conservativism"...(wink wink); 1/14/23, 9:44 PM
Readering said...: Folks here just worried that Biden declassified all these documents in his head when he got sworn in as POTUS.; 1/14/23, 9:44 PM
Readering said...: Mens rea; 1/14/23, 9:47 PM
Crazy World said...: Little blue corvette; 1/14/23, 9:52 PM
John henry said...: I've seen speculation that Joe will hang on till Jan 21.then he will quit or be forced out.

If kamala becomes prez after the 21st she could theoretically serve 10 years.

I don't think that's a big pro l. I don't see her even making it past 24.

But then who becomes vp? the senate might be able to get a majority to confirm her candidate. The house probably not

Could we see president Harris resign with no vp?

Hello president mccarthy.

And vp trump?

Keep hope alive:TRUMP 23!

John Henry; 1/14/23, 10:03 PM
RonF said...: Someone explain to me who is in charge of tracking Top Secret documents for the United States and why they didn’t know that Biden had them scattered unsecured across what seems to be half the Eastern Seaboard for 6 years.; 1/14/23, 11:02 PM
RonF said...: Someone explain to me who is in charge of tracking Top Secret documents for the United States and why they didn’t know that Biden had them scattered unsecured across what seems to be half the Eastern Seaboard for 6 years.; 1/14/23, 11:04 PM
effinayright said...: Chuck said...
Haha.

See y'all in court. And by the way, it'll be the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
************

And that's what's most important to immoral fuckwits like you, making sure the forum for "justice" is in a place congenial to your politics.

"Fuck the legalities! We've got the "Illiterate Democrat Moron Jury Pool wrapped up! Some walkin' around money to spread around, and we can get any verdict we want!"

Right?; 1/14/23, 11:19 PM
Mr Wibble said...: After all these years - why are documents found by his corvette?
Who found them?
-----

My crazy theory is that this is the DOJ screwing over the WH as revenge for the Mar a Lago debacle. There's no way that DOJ wouldn't have had a press release ready to go the minute the raid was executed if Garland had authorized it. The WH gave the order to the FBI, bypassing Garland, and then when the backlash got hot they told him to go out and take the blame. The DOJ, in turn, knew about classified docs in Bidens possession, and set this up to embarrass him.; 1/15/23, 12:54 AM
wendybar said...: Jim at said...
I just don't even care what these leftists have to say anymore. They're dishonest, lying assholes and it's not worth the effort to give a shit about their thoughts, words or deeds. On any subject.

I want them out of my life.

1/14/23, 3:17 PM

THIS.; 1/15/23, 6:45 AM
Mike of Snoqualmie said...: Someone explain to me who is in charge of tracking Top Secret documents for the United States and why they didn’t know that Biden had them scattered unsecured across what seems to be half the Eastern Seaboard for 6 years.

Every classified custodian is required to conduct a yearly audit of the documents that are supposed to be in his/her facility. The fact that these have been missing for 6 years shows how seriously the Washington, D.C. custodians take this requirement. These documents should have been found 5 years ago after an investigation of everyone who had access to them.; 1/15/23, 8:17 AM
Roger Sweeny said...: @ Michelle Dulak Thomson - Sydney Harris, an under appreciated columnist in the 1960s, did a lot of those I/you/he assymetrical insights.; 1/15/23, 9:23 AM
Roger Sweeny said...: @ RonF - Nobody is in charge of tracking Top Secret documents, partly because there are so many of them and so many people with Top Secret clearance that it would require too much time, money, and people to do so.

Just about everyone in and around the upper reaches of the federal government knows that way too many unimportant documents are classified, but it allows anyone who sees them to feel important. It also means that information that might make someone look bad is officially off limits to the public.

If Republicans wanted to improve things, they could take on the classification system. Most of the people who would be hurt are even Democratic permanent government people. But doing something would involve work, so I'm not optimistic.; 1/15/23, 9:46 AM
Original Mike said...: "These documents should have been found 5 years ago after an investigation of everyone who had access to them."

Perhaps they aren't missing. Perhaps Joe copied them.; 1/15/23, 10:26 AM
GRW3 said...: He is right, they are not similar. President Trump could declassify any document or information he cared to. Vice President Biden could not.; 1/15/23, 10:34 AM
Michael Gazonymous said...: File under: Four Legs Good, Two Legs Baaaaaaad.; 1/15/23, 11:25 AM
Big Mike said...: Someone explain to me who is in charge of tracking Top Secret documents for the United States and why they didn’t know that Biden had them scattered unsecured across what seems to be half the Eastern Seaboard for 6 years.

It’s called “I have only a couple years until retirement this is not worth jeopardizing my pension.” You’d probably do the same in their shoes.; 1/15/23, 12:16 PM
Drago said...: Readering: "Folks here just worried that Biden declassified all these documents in his head when he got sworn in as POTUS."

Please, please, be stupid enough to try and make that argument.; 1/15/23, 12:25 PM
Drago said...: Banned Commenter LLR Chuck: "Haha. See y'all in court. And by the way, it'll be the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia."

Yes, its true. You corrupt democraticals have successfully established your own Sovietized court system in DC.

The fact that you are so proud of what you and your democraticals have done in this regard tells us everything we ever needed to know about you.

Although, to be honest, your years worth of vicious attacks on black conservatives due to their race was enough of a tipoff early on to clue us in fully.; 1/15/23, 12:27 PM
NotWhoIUsedtoBe said...: Has Trump been charged?; 1/15/23, 1:58 PM