Pinging the list, freepmail to get on/off. Good overview by Kyle Becker. Excerpted.
The FBI Raided Trump at Mar-a-Lago, But Did Not Even Supervise When Biden Turned Over Classified Documents
https://thekylebecker.substack.com/p/the-fbi-raided-trump-at-mar-a-lago
President Joe Biden and his attorneys were given special treatment by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in his classified documents scandal, as compared to the intrusive raid that FBI agents carried out on former President Donald Trump last August.
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In November, just days prior to the midterm elections, Biden’s lawyers reportedly found classified documents from the vice president’s time in office at his home in Wilmington, Delaware, as well as at the Penn Biden Center in Washington D.C.
On Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal reported that the FBI decided to allow Biden’s lawyers to sort through the classified and unclassified documents unsupervised by agents.
“The Justice Department considered having FBI agents monitor a search by President Biden’s lawyers for classified documents at his homes but decided against it, both to avoid complicating later stages of the investigation and because Mr. Biden’s attorneys had quickly turned over a first batch and were cooperating, according to people familiar with the matter,” the Wall Street Journal reported.
The Department of Justice showed unusual restraint in comparison to the August raid on Mar-a-Lago against former President Donald Trump. The FBI agents swept up all materials believed to be relevant to its investigation of a National Archives and Records Act complaint. However, the search for Biden’s outstanding classified documents was handled out with utmost politeness, even though he did not possess ultimate declassification authority when he took the documents.
“After Mr. Biden’s lawyers discovered documents marked as classified dating from his term as vice president at an office he used at a Washington-based think tank on Nov. 2, the Justice Department opened an inquiry into why and how they got there,” the report added. “Mr. Biden’s legal team prepared to search his other properties for any similar documents, and discussed with the Justice Department the prospect of having FBI agents present while Mr. Biden’s lawyers conducted the additional searches.”
In contrast to a swarm of FBI agents scouring through Joe Biden’s homes, garages, Corvette stingray, and offices, the bureau decided to let Biden’s attorneys go through the homes and turn over whatever documents they saw fit to give the authorities. The FBI claims this was done out of deference to a special counsel investigation.
“Instead, the two sides agreed that Mr. Biden’s personal attorneys would inspect the homes, notify the Justice Department as soon as they identified any other potentially classified records, and arrange for law-enforcement authorities to take them,” the report noted.
Contrast this hands-off treatment to the abuse that former President Donald Trump was subjugated to at the hands of the FBI. The August raid was sweeping in its scope; indeed, it was carried out like a fishing expedition.
The FBI’s search warrant can be viewed in full below.
[More at link]
Yet the FBI was at Mar-a-Lago prior to the raid and were shown where all the documents were stored. They left asking only for a lock to be added, which was agreed to. And Mar-a-Lago is a very secure location.
Since Mar-A-Lago and Garage-A-Lago took place under Garland’s watch, is the Republican House going to insist on a report comparing and contrasting how the DoJ did not properly enforce the Presidential Records Act (which is supposed to be a civil matter not a criminal matter) and the Espionage Act (a criminal matter handled as a civil or “nothing” matter)?