President Biden ignored multiple shouted questions from reporters about his handling of classified documents Tuesday as his staff hurried to push the press out of the room.
The moment came after Biden concluded his bilateral meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Multiple reporters shouted questions about the new DOJ investigation into classified documents that were found at the Penn Biden Center think tank after the two leaders concluded their remarks, but Biden pretended not to hear.
“Mr. President, do you have any comment on the classified documents,” a reporter can be heard shouting to Biden.
Biden and Trudeau remained silent and stared at the press corps impassively as staff escorted reporters out of the room.
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President Joe Biden meets with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at the InterContinental Presidente Mexico City hotel in Mexico City,Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2023. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
The Biden think tank claims it only discovered the classified documents at its Washington offices in November, and says it immediately notified the National Archives and returned the documents.
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Attorney General Merrick Garland tapped John Lausch, the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois and a Trump appointee, to investigate the matter on Monday. The White House says Biden is fully cooperating with the investigation.
“The documents were not the subject of any previous request or inquiry by the Archives,” Richard Sauber, special counsel to the White House, said in a Monday statement. “Since that discovery, the President’s personal attorneys have cooperated with the Archives and the Department of Justice in the process to ensure that any Obama-Biden Administration records are appropriately in the possession of the Archives.”
The discovery echoes revelations last year that Trump had housed a trove of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago home after leaving office. The FBI ultimately raided his residence to recover some 300 classified documents.
Local law enforcement officers are seen in front of the home of former President Donald Trump at Mar-A-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida on Aug. 9, 2022.
(GIORGIO VIERA/AFP via Getty Images)
This image contained in a court filing by the Department of Justice on Aug. 30, 2022, and redacted by in part by the FBI, shows a photo of documents seized during the Aug. 8 search by the FBI of former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.
(Department of Justice via AP)
Trump himself was quick to make the comparison on social media Monday, and a number of other Republicans called for more information about the Biden documents.
Democrats on Capitol Hill dismissed the scrutiny of Biden as “Republican Hypocrisy,” however.
“This is Republican hypocrisy in its finest,” Aguilar, D-Calif., said in a press conference Tuesday with party leadership collages. “We’re going to support the fact that the president is following this established protocol, that he did the right thing.”
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Aguilar went on to accuse his colleagues across the aisle of not wanting to conduct “meaningful” oversight, and that they are “just interested in opposing this president.”
