As Townhall reported on Monday evening, news broke that then-Vice President Joe Biden took classified and reportedly top secret documents and kept them in his private office following the end of the Obama administration in 2017, a stunning case of hypocrisy given Biden's attacks against his predecessor, Donald Trump, for keeping classified documents at his private Mar-a-Lago estate.
Shortly after the situation was reported, journalists shouted questions at President Biden as he attended meetings during his trip to Mexico City. As usual, Biden ignored the questions.
Watch: As the press is moved out of the room, a reporter asks Joe Biden: "Any response to the discovery of classified documents at your office?"
— TV News Now (@TVNewsNow) January 10, 2023
He does not answer. pic.twitter.com/LDKUYhaKOI
The White House spin shop hasn't had a chance to respond yet, but there's no way Biden was ready to be the first one out of the gate with his story to explain away how it was ok and totally responsible to have classified government documents in his private office. Plus, he knows he can — to an extent — count on the mainstream media, Democrats, and his own administration to help paper over another massive hole blasted in his supposedly high-ground credibility.
As reporting Monday night explained, now-President Biden and his Department of Justice were made aware of the classified documents being held in Biden's private office just before last November's midterm elections — but the revelations that Biden was apparently guilty of doing what Democrats said Trump should go to prison for were conveniently kept under wraps until after Election Day in 2022.
Now, though, Republican lawmakers are reacting to the news by demanding answers and turning Democrat attacks aimed at Trump around on their party's leader, President Biden.
Rep. James Comer (R-KY), who's barely had a chance to warm up the chairman's seat in the House Oversight Committee, asked rhetorically Monday evening, "Is the White House going to be raided tonight? Are they going to raid the Biden center? I don’t know," he said, alluding to the DOJ's reaction former President Trump and the records he took to Mar-a-Lago.
"This is further concern that there's a two-tier justice system within the DOJ with how they treat Republicans vs. Democrats," Comer continued, "certainly how they treat the former president versus the current president." Comer also said that his committee would consider calling a hearing on the situation and was already working on a letter to the National Archives to gather more information.
Arkansas GOP Senator Tom Cotton reminded that there must be one set of rules and standards that is used for all cases, not disparate treatment for those in just one political camp.
Re. Biden and classified documents: there can't be separate standards for Republicans and Democrats.
— Tom Cotton (@TomCottonAR) January 10, 2023
The same rules must apply to everyone.
"Let’s see the outrage from Democrats and the media," tweeted Florida GOP Senator Rick Scott. "We’ll probably be waiting for a while." No kidding. Scott added the revelations show "hypocrisy at its finest from Joe Biden."
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene tweeted that Joe Biden as then-departing vice president did not possess the same level of declassification authority that then-departing President Trump did and pointed out the fact that Democrats hoping to go after Trump for having classified documents at his private home should have a harder time doing so now that it's known Biden apparently did the same with documents in his private post-VP office:
Joe Biden took classified documents from the White House when he was Vice President.
— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) January 10, 2023
The VP does NOT have the power to declassify, only POTUS.
Joe Biden stole classified documents.
This is a very serious crime.
DOJ & NARA can’t sweep this under the rug AND persecute Trump.
Senator Marsha Blackburn also shared her concerns, asking why Biden took the classified documents when he left the office of the vice president and why the DOJ wasn't looking for what he took — as well as who else had access to the government documents while they were in his private office.
It’s been revealed that classified documents were found inside Joe Biden’s private office.
— Sen. Marsha Blackburn (@MarshaBlackburn) January 9, 2023
Why were they there, why wasn’t the Justice Department looking for these documents, and who had access to them?
Others also emphasized the two standards of justice seen in the contrast between how Trump and his documents were handled compared to Biden and the documents he took:
It’s just been discovered that Biden had HIGHLY CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS that were improperly stored in one of his private offices. INCREDIBLE! WHERE is the FBI? WHERE is the dramatic raid? We have two systems of justice in this country: one for them and one for us.
— Ronny Jackson (@RonnyJacksonTX) January 9, 2023
BREAKING: Classified documents from Joe Biden’s Vice Presidential days found at his private office.
— Congressman Troy Nehls (@RepTroyNehls) January 9, 2023
When will the FBI raid his home?
While it remains to be seen what Republican oversight of Biden's classified document situation will look like — or whether the Department of Justice's preliminary review of the documents will lead to further scrutiny on the same level as has been applied to Trump — it's clear that Democrats and the mainstream media will now have a more difficult time using the documents kept by Trump at Mar-a-Lago as a line of attack against the 2024 candidate.