The House Oversight Committee has encountered its first stumbling block in its inquiry into classified documents found at President Biden’s properties, with White House counsel Stuart Delery suggesting that his office would decide what constitutes a “legitimate oversight” request.
Responding to committee requests for copies of the classified documents found at President Biden’s properties and any internal communication about the DOJ probe, Mr. Delery said that the White House would work to “accommodate legitimate oversight interests,” but emphasized that “the integrity and independence of law enforcement investigations” should be respected. Delery also said that the White House counsel does not possess the actual documents.
The spokeswoman for the Oversight Committee criticized the response of the White House counsel, specifically his suggestion that the White House itself would determine whether any inquiry is a “legitimate” oversight request.
Chairman James Comer (R-KY) also separately requested the visitor logs of President Biden’s Delaware home from the Secret Service after documents were found on the property on two separate occasions. The classified documents discovered in the home range from Biden’s time as Delaware’s Senator to his time as Vice President.
The Biden administration has attempted to downplay the issue, claiming that the President takes his handling of classified information seriously and pointing to the fact that they have cooperated fully with both the Department of Justice and the National Archives on the matter.
President Biden has not been immune from criticisms within his own party. Recently, Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) said that Biden “was not careful in handling classified documents” in a statement to reporters. Contrasting the discovery of classified documents in Biden’s home to the Trump documents, he said that “this White House has brought in the government agencies from the start, unlike Trump who fought court orders before there was a search on his premises.” Yet, he did add that Biden “has to accept some responsibility for this as an elected official who hired the team that have the documents.”
Supporters of former President Trump were quick to accuse the Justice Department of a double standard after Mar-a-Lago—Trump’s primary residence—was raided by the FBI to find and retrieve the classified documents in his possession. So far, the Justice Department has not taken such an action at any of the potential locations Biden left classified information. President Biden’s supports continue to insist that the difference in treatment stems from cooperation, with Biden fulling submitting to the Justice Department.
Yet, President Biden’s possession of classified documents is potentially worse than the case of the former president. As Seamus Bruner pointed out on our website, Hunter Biden is recorded as a resident of the Wilmington home where the classified documents were discovered. Disturbingly, “the period that Hunter claimed he was living at 1209 Barley Mill Rd (the Wilmington house where classified documents were found) overlaps with the time multiple Biden family members were taking money from foreign businessmen linked to the highest levels of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) intelligence apparatus.”
In light of these disturbing facts, the White House would be hard pressed to label the House Republican investigations as illegitimate oversight. As they proceed, we are likely to get more answers.
