As President Joe Biden's classified document scandal continues to develop, some figures such as Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have become oddly silent. But other Democrats and White House veterans have engaged in a bit of a pile-on after the left spent so much ink and airtime lambasting former President Donald Trump for having classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago home.
Enter Walter Shaub, who served as the director of the United States Office of Government Ethics under President Obama...and then-Vice President Biden.
Shaub chose not to take the quiet route when asked about his opinion on Biden's mishandling of classified documents at his post-VP office in D.C. and his private home and garage in Wilmington, Delaware. And those are just the three instances we know about so far.
Shaub was careful to maintain the Democrat's party line, saying Biden's mishandling of sensitive documents is "nothing like Trump’s deliberate refusal to return classified records demanded by the National Archives," but Shaub couldn't avoid the truth. "Biden’s own retention of classified records reflects an inexcusable neglect of the most basic security protocols," he said in comments to Fox News Digital.
Shaub also had criticism for how the White House handled the emerging scandal with a lack of transparency and, at best, reluctant honesty after being caught misleading Americans. "The fact that the White House didn’t mention that records were found in more than one location when first asked about them was a breach of trust with the public and a self-inflicted wound," Shaub said.
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"Based on what we know so far, it seems unlikely that he’s at risk of any of legal consequences," Shaub added, "but I’m glad Garland appointed a special counsel to show even-handed treatment of the current and former president."
Well, if that's the case, then Trump shouldn't have anything to worry about either. Biden's failure to follow the rules of classified document possession and storage handed Trump the insurance policy he needed to insulate against politicized prosecution for having classified documents at Mar a Lago. If it's such a serious crime — as Democrats said until Biden got caught tossing documents around the eastern seaboard — then both Trump and Biden must be prosecuted. If, as Shaub suggests, it's unlikely for Biden to face legal consequences, then neither should Trump.
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