Holy smokes....

"My lawyers have not suggested I ask what documents they were."

https://www.foxnews.com/politi...docs-penn-think-tank

Think maybe ya oughta be a little proactive, chief? Or are you just working to maintain some kind of plausible deniability?

You have to believe someone's shady when they won't do a danged thing without consulting their lawyers. Heck, having multiple lawyers might even say something about a fella's way of life. Good grief.

"Hey, Grandpa! What's fer supper?"

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:
The karma of this story is just delicious.

[FLASH_VIDEO]<iframe frameborder="0" height="540" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/6Vcn3fRuKEc" title="The Biden Think Tank Classified Documents Investigation: Analysis" width="960"></iframe>[/FLASH_VIDEO.¥§¥]

Biden think tank.

There’s three words that don’t go together.

quote:

"This is not Mar-a-Lago," Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, told Fox News on Tuesday. "This is not the refusal of hundreds and hundreds of documents. There is no comparison. They were in a locked closet. They were not accessible. And that's why the appropriate process was followed. … I don't think it compares at all."

https://www.foxnews.com/politi...docs-penn-think-tank

Dumb as a box of rocks this MORON is...

I'm starting to think that when the Democrats have to say something, and the only thing they can say sounds utterly crazy, then that's when they trot out Sheila Jackson Lee.

Does "My lawyers suggest that I not ask" mean "You really don't want to know"?

OZ

Can the VP declassify documents by himself?

If not, and if Obama had not declassified them before leaving office, then these were indeed still classified documents. Which were abandoned in an unused office.

That seems to me a different animal entirely than the Mar a Lago documents.

quote:

Originally posted by Fly-Sig:
Can the VP declassify documents by himself?

NO. He cannot.

quote:

Originally posted by Oscar Zulu:
Does "My lawyers suggest that I not ask" mean "You really don't want to know"?

OZ

The conversation likely went something like “Don’t ask us what’s in the documents, so you can’t testify to it”.

Dementia has the above translation.

".......the president(Biden) added. But I don't know what's in the documents. My lawyers have not suggested I ask what documents they were........" WOW !!! That is one clueless puppet in my opinion. Anyone that has had a US government security clearance knows this is grounds on the person losing their security clearance. God Bless !!!

The story itself stinks. His lawyers "found" the documents? And so some documents have been returned to proper storage. Great! Could there be far more documents that have not been recovered and who might have them? And are those documents being used as leverage against Biden, his family and the US?
Geezus! Any scenario is possible here.

quote:

Originally posted by Sig2340:

Biden think tank.

How about "Biden's thinking tanked"

quote:

Originally posted by Balzé Halzé:

quote:

Originally posted by Fly-Sig:
Can the VP declassify documents by himself?

NO. He cannot.

Wrong, the VP can reclassify any document for which they were the original classification authority.

I doubt that is the case here.

In contrast, POTUS, as the head of the Executive Branch, is the final classification authority for ALL classified documents and can reclassify to their heart’s content.

In Joes defense he didn't know he was VP or that he had a closet....

I don't think the VP has / had Original Classification Authority

example:

https://obamawhitehouse.archiv...sification-authority

Executive Order 13526- Original Classification Authority

An informative opinion piece from The Wall Street Journal. I had not previously seen that the documents included SCI intelligence materials. Hardly the “janitorial” list mentioned as a possibility in one recent video.

========================

Biden’s Classified Document Stash
A sauce for the gander moment that makes charging Trump harder.

Whatever gods are scripting America’s political drama these days, they sure do have a sense of humor. On Monday CBS broke the news that, days before the midterm elections, “roughly 10” documents with classification markings were found among Joe Biden’s vice presidential files in a private office he once used. A federal prosecutor is investigating, and the FBI is involved.

Not even George Santos could make up this plot twist. The documents discovered in Mr. Biden’s possession include “intelligence memos and briefing materials that covered topics including Ukraine, Iran and the United Kingdom,” CNN reports.

Citing a single anonymous source, CNN says Mr. Biden “didn’t know the documents were there.” His personal lawyers found the classified material while packing files in a locked closet at an office that Mr. Biden used beginning in 2017. After the discovery, the National Archives was notified the same day, and the papers were handed over the following morning. Some of the documents were designated as “sensitive compartmented information,” which means they were classified above Top Secret.

News analysts are cautioning that this apparent mishandling of material is different from Mr. Trump’s retention of hundreds of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago home, which ultimately triggered an extraordinary FBI search last year. That’s true as far as it goes. Mr. Biden’s office had many fewer documents, and he wasn’t wrangling with the National Archives for months over his right to keep them.

On the other hand, Mr. Biden as Vice President had no authority to declassify documents on his own, unlike the President. He also isn’t covered by the Presidential Records Act provision that gives former Presidents access to documents from their presidential years in cooperation with the National Archives. Mr. Biden had no authority to hold such classified documents at all in a private office.

None of this is to say that Mr. Biden should be prosecuted, despite the Justice Department investigation. But it is a sauce for the gander political moment, and it certainly does bear on whether Justice can fairly prosecute Mr. Trump for similar mishandling. Mr. Biden was notably unforgiving about Mr. Trump’s Mar-a-Lago files last year. “When you saw the photograph of the top secret documents laid out on the floor at Mar-a-Lago, what did you think to yourself?” Mr. Biden was asked on CBS’s “60 Minutes.”

“How anyone could be that irresponsible,” Mr. Biden replied. “And I thought: What data was in there that may compromise sources and methods?” The same question applies to Mr. Biden’s documents.

Special Counsel Jack Smith is investigating Mr. Trump’s handling of the Mar-a-Lago documents, which was at least reckless. But consider the political context in which Mr. Smith must now make a prosecutorial decision. Hillary Clinton’s private server exposed classified material, but the FBI absolved her in 2016. Now we learn Mr. Biden’s private office contained classified material that someone mishandled.

Is Mr. Smith, who answers to Mr. Biden through Attorney General Merrick Garland, really going to indict Mr. Trump for mishandling documents while Mr. Biden is absolved? Legal nuances aside, the underlying offense is far too close for safe political comfort. Barring new evidence in the Mar-a-Lago case, half the country would conclude the sitting President is prosecuting his chief political competitor for an offense that he also committed.

Mr. Garland did himself no political favors by failing to disclose this news as soon as he found out. The leak so many weeks later, with its made-to order Biden explanations, sounds a little too tidy. All the more reason to settle the Mar-a-Lago case short of prosecution, and let Mr. Trump’s political future be decided by the voters.

LINK

Don't forget, while everyone is talking about the fact the Biden was the VP, he had those documents under his control/posession AFTER he was VP when he held NO office, and had NO authority whatsoever!

quote:

Originally posted by sdy:
I don't think the VP has / had Original Classification Authority

example:

https://obamawhitehouse.archiv...sification-authority

Executive Order 13526- Original Classification Authority

The 2019 DOD Original Classification Authority (OCA) Desktop Reference states:

OCAs, also called original classifiers, include the President, Vice President, Secretary of Defense, the Secretaries of the Military Departments, and other officials within the Department of Defense (DoD) who have been specifically delegated this authority in writing.

When Original Classification Authority is granted, OCAs are delegated classification authority specific to a level of classification and cumulative downwards. For example, an OCA appointed with Top Secret classification authority may classify information at the Top Secret, Secret, and Confidential levels.

An OCA appointed with Confidential classification authority may only classify information at the Confidential level.

OCAs may only classify information under their area of responsibility, such as a system, plan, program, project, or mission. For example, it would not be appropriate for an air wing commander to classify information about a Navy undersea warfare program.

quote:

Whatever gods are scripting America’s political drama these days, they sure do have a sense of humor.

Verily




The icing on the cake is that the story was broken by CBS.

And yet, there's more, from NBC....

Link, More Classified docs found

WASHINGTON — Aides to President Joe Biden have discovered at least one additional batch of classified documents in a location separate from the Washington office he used after leaving the Obama administration, according to a person familiar with the matter.

ince November, after the discovery of documents with classified markings in his former office, Biden aides have been searching for any additional classified materials that might be in other locations he used, said the source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to provide details about the ongoing inquiry.

The White House did not return a request for comment. The Justice Department had no comment.

The initial discovery of classified documents in an office used by Biden after his vice presidency was first reported on Monday by CBS News.

The classification level, number and precise location of the additional documents was not immediately clear. It also was not immediately clear when the additional documents were discovered and if the search for any other classified materials Biden may have from the Obama administration is complete.

Biden aides have been sifting through documents stored at locations beyond his former Washington office to determine if there are any other classified documents that need to be turned over to the National Archives and reviewed by the Justice Department, the person familiar with the matter said.