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The Immaculate Possession: Biden Defense is Vast Becoming Unsustainable
JonathanTurley.org ^ | January 22, 2023 | Jonathan Turley

Posted on 01/22/2023 11:18:12 AM PST by billorites

President Biden seems to attract classified documents the way some people think motor homes attract tornadoes. They just inexplicably happen.

After Biden publicly declared that he has “no regrets” in the discovery of unlawfully stored classified material in various locations, he assured citizens that the special counsel investigation would soon peter out when they find that “there is no there there.”

Well, there turns out to be more there and the “there” is yet another find in a private residence of Joe Biden.

A search of Biden’s home in Wilmington on Friday found six new clearly marked classified documents, bringing the total to roughly 30 classified documents. The latest search came almost three months after the first discovery in a closet in a D.C. office.

Yet, the president and White House still maintain that all of these documents are merely the result of “inadvertent mishandling” and that the Biden has no knowledge of their storage over the prior roughly six years. There is a point when “inadvertence” becomes so incredible as to be miraculous.

At the start of this scandal, I questioned the inadvertence claim in light of one simple fact. These classified documents were presumably removed in 2017 and yet they were divided and distributed to different locations. Those locations have now increased to at least four: the closet, garage, library, and the new location at the Wilmington residence. That suggests that they were transferred more than once and sent to different locations for a purpose.

The most obvious purpose is that Biden was working on a book that discussed some of the underlying subject matters like China and Ukraine. However, Biden insists that he never had knowledge or interaction with the documents.

In other words, these documents just miraculously seem to appear in every spot where Biden worked or lived over the last 10 years. He possessed them with no knowledge or intent. It is the immaculate possession . . . over and over again.

The use of FBI agents for this latest search stands in sharp contrast to prior searches and magnifies earlier questions of why the FBI reportedly declined an invitation to conduct the searches.

There is still no confirmation of where the documents were found in the residence or their level of classification.

The latest batch of documents easily establishes “gross mishandling” of classified material, the standard being investigated by the special counsel. The only question is who is responsible and President Biden portrays himself as a mere pedestrian “surprised” over and over again by the discovery of classified documents in his home. He is fast becoming the Claude Rains of presidents in feigning shock that there is handling of classified material in this establishment.

Biden’s worst critic, however, may be Biden.

In 1977, as senator from Delaware, Biden torpedoed President Jimmy Carter’s nominee for CIA director over his alleged mishandling of classified documents. As with the current scandal, Ted Sorensen was accused of having the documents for work on a book. The motive did not matter. Sen. Biden expressed his signature revulsion at the very thought of the possession.

President Jimmy Carter at the White House, April 7, 1980. (Library of Congress/Marion S. Trikosko/Handout via Reuters)

There was no evidence of ill intent, but Biden insisted that was not the issue. Biden argued that Sorensen could still be prosecuted under the Espionage Act and insisted the “real issue” during Sorensen’s confirmation hearing was “whether Mr. Sorensen intentionally took advantage of ambiguities in the law, or carelessly ignored the law.”

After all, Biden continued, “If he did so, can he now bring the activities of the intelligence community within the strict limits of the law? We will expect that in the future of intelligence agencies. If that is to be the case, then we must hold the director – DCI – accountable as well.”

Notably, some of the recently discovered classified documents may have been from Biden’s time aas a senator — over ten years ago..

I have previously noted that Biden “has always been better at expressing revulsion than responsibility.” When it came to Sorensen, Biden could not imagine a rationalization for a nominee to excuse such mishandling of classified material, but as a president, “there is no there there.”

Biden has continued to make the case against himself with remarkable determination. His defense that some documents were housed in his “locked garage with my Corvette” may go down as one of the most imbecilic statements in modern political history. He then followed up with his “no regrets” comments (and his assurance of “no there there”) just before more classified documents were found “there.”

While special counsel do not mind defendants making fools of themselves, they do not want to join them in such public spectacles. In this investigation, the Biden defense is looking increasingly implausible in his claim of no knowledge or responsibility.

Indeed, if any witness or forensic evidence shows that Biden came into contact with any of these documents over the last 10 years, this dubious defense will take on a far more sinister appearance. It would establish not just intent and knowledge, but an effort to deceive the public and prosecutors.

Yet, even after the latest batch was found, Biden and allies like Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., are continuing to maintain that “there is no there there.” These continuing denials now border on willful blindness and the public reaction is likely to echo the president’s favorite tagline: “Come on, man.”


TOPICS: Front Page News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: cmonmanitsacorvette; turley

1 posted on 01/22/2023 11:18:12 AM PST by billorites
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To: billorites

More like here, there, and everywhere.


2 posted on 01/22/2023 11:26:01 AM PST by Lonesome in Massachussets (Forsan et haec olim meminisse iuvabit.)
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To: billorites
President Biden seems to attract classified documents the way some people think motor homes attract tornadoes.

I think he meant mobile homes

3 posted on 01/22/2023 11:26:08 AM PST by Right Brother
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To: billorites

C’mon man !!!


4 posted on 01/22/2023 11:32:13 AM PST by Pearfect (o)
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It is not a serious issue deserving of air time like Trump Jr jaywalking or something


5 posted on 01/22/2023 11:37:30 AM PST by dsrtsage ( Complexity is just simple lacking imagination)
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To: All

.
The Bidens collect Diamonds and Classified Documents.


6 posted on 01/22/2023 11:38:24 AM PST by AnthonySoprano (Statute of Limitations is going to elapse on Hunter Biden )
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To: AnthonySoprano
C955-EFE5-4-DF7-489-C-810-A-2-B4-EE2-A0-B6-F0


Hunter loved to deals on-line and over the phone.

What a great way to authenticate who he was by telling them Top Secret info that a hacker or imposter wouldn’t have.




7 posted on 01/22/2023 11:46:25 AM PST by AnthonySoprano (Statute of Limitations is going to elapse on Hunter Biden )
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To: Right Brother

True that. Still, a pretty good line.


8 posted on 01/22/2023 11:47:20 AM PST by Attention Surplus Disorder (Apoplectic is where we want them)
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To: billorites

“The people of Chelm are not stupid. Stupid things just keep happening to them.”


9 posted on 01/22/2023 11:48:12 AM PST by Eleutheria5 (Every Goliath has his David.)
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To: billorites

The key question is the specifics of the documents that are turning up.
Were they used for blackmail? Espionage?
Who were the consumers of these secrets?
Who are the others in the ring? Who stands to benefit ?
How much damage has been done ?
Does it make sense to have insiders conducting the investigation ?


10 posted on 01/22/2023 11:53:36 AM PST by oldbrowser ( we are in a one sided blood feud.)
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To: oldbrowser
The LAAP-dog media wasted no time speculating as to the nature of the documents at Mar-a-Lago, going so far as to question whether they were "nuclear codes" that were two years old.

With Biden's documents, nobody is making any claims about what the documents might contain.

-PJ

11 posted on 01/22/2023 12:18:15 PM PST by Political Junkie Too ( * LAAP = Left-wing Activist Agitprop Press (formerly known as the MSM))
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To: billorites

If Joe Biden ever figures out that people are not laughing WITH him, he will be pretty upset.


12 posted on 01/22/2023 12:39:26 PM PST by Bernard (“the rights of man come not from the generosity of the state but from the hand of God." JFK 1-20-61)
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To: billorites

Ҥ793. Gathering, transmitting or losing defense information
....
(f) Whoever, being entrusted with or having lawful possession or control of any document, writing, code book, signal book, sketch, photograph, photographic negative, blueprint, plan, map, model, instrument, appliance, note, or information, relating to the national defense, (1) through gross negligence permits the same to be removed from its proper place of custody or delivered to anyone in violation of his trust, or to be lost
....
Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both.”

https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?path=/prelim@title18/part1/chapter37&edition=prelim


13 posted on 01/22/2023 12:39:56 PM PST by Brian Griffin
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To: billorites

like jab deaths, did thy find them Suddenly and Unexpectedly?


14 posted on 01/22/2023 12:40:10 PM PST by Chode (there is no fall back position, there's no rally point, there is no LZ... we're on our own. #FJB)
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To: billorites

“ The most obvious purpose is that Biden was working on a book that discussed some of the underlying subject matters like China and Ukraine.”

Since it’s obvious that SloJo can’t write such a book himself, it begs the question who his ghost writers were, and did they have access to these secret documents (and who did they spy for).


15 posted on 01/22/2023 12:56:22 PM PST by VanShuyten ("...that all the donkeys were dead. I know nothing as to the fate of the less valuable animals)
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To: All

Has all the shady earmarks of “the Delaware Way.”


16 posted on 01/22/2023 1:24:01 PM PST by Liz (Vox Populi, Vox Dei (voice of the people is the voice of God)
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To: billorites

Why did Biden originally have these docs at a location where they could be mishandled? I thought classified docs were read in a SCIF and then returned to a secure location. I didn’t think they were kept at the Official VP Residence or Senate Office, so they could be inadvertently boxed up.


17 posted on 01/22/2023 2:44:04 PM PST by Savage Rider
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