Patterico's Pontifications

1/11/2023

President Biden: More Documents Marked Classified Discovered (UPDATE ADDED)

Filed under: General — Dana @ 1:42 pm



[guest post by Dana]

In addition to yesterday’s news that President Biden’s lawyers turned over classified-marked documents to the National Archives after they had been discovered in a locked closet at the University of Pennsylvania, we are now learning that another batch of classified documents has been discovered:

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.

Since 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 report points out that we do not know the classification level of the documents, exactly where the additional documents were located, or when the additional documents were discovered.

Neither the White House nor the Department of Justice have commented on this new revelation.

I’ll update the post when we learn something new.

UPDATE: The White House confirms that the documents with classified markings were found in President Biden’s garage:

In a statement released on Twitter, Special Counsel to the President Richard Sauber said the documents were found during a search for documents in Biden’s two Delaware homes.

“All but one of these documents were found in storage space in the president’s Wilmington residence garage. One document consisting of one page was discovered among stored materials in an adjacent room,” Sauber said.

–Dana

104 Responses to “President Biden: More Documents Marked Classified Discovered (UPDATE ADDED)”

  1. Curiouser and curiouser…

    Dana (1225fc)

  2. Swamp creatures have decades of nests to go through…

    ‘How could anybody be that irresponsible?’ – Squinty McStumblebum 9/18/22

    This POTUS is such a POS.

    DCSCA (efbc81)

  3. Over at DU they are blaming everybody but biden and democrats. MSM is trying to run interference for biden ;but starting to worry about getting exposed. And AOC smiled.

    asset (6bbc1b)

  4. Ho hum.

    NJRob (e1c408)

  5. On the five ( I watch both sides ) A person who removes classified documents has to sign for them unless he sangy bergers them. Lets see the signature.

    asset (6bbc1b)

  6. OT:

    RIP Jeff Beck (78).

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  7. RIP Jeff Beck.

    JoeH (871b8d)

  8. Rip Murdock, you beat me to it. I tried to include a link to his Crossroads Festival performance of Nessun Dorma in 2010, but couldn’t figure it out.

    JoeH (871b8d)

  9. I should have said Rock God Jeff Beck……

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  10. Until proven otherwise it is safe to assume JB was selling the nuclear codes to China

    frosty (34c1d9)

  11. Whether it’s incompetency or whether he willfully retained these documents, it’s still bad for Biden, the former being the less worse.

    Paul Montagu (8f0dc7)

  12. This time you didn’t include an article from a reporter who hates Trump and calls Republicans ‘extremists’ that throws shade for Biden.

    RIP Jeff Beck

    Obudman (6c7d77)

  13. @11. It’s senatorial swamp creature habit. There’s likely caches of classified documents in his nests all over…

    DCSCA (49fb76)

  14. People Get Ready, one of my favorites from Beck.
    RIP.

    Paul Montagu (8f0dc7)

  15. R.I.P. Jeff Beck, whose genius is on full display at the link below

    https://youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_m4RIkO4KeNSHtAFD13dMT_ydhSJVb73Bc

    Icy (7a93eb)

  16. There’s fifty years of Biden debris to sift through to search for classified papers he swiped.

    Nail the bastard.

    DCSCA (0f890d)

  17. Paul Montagu (8f0dc7) — 1/11/2023 @ 4:24 p

    That was beautiful, Paul. Beck seemed genuinely surprised by Rod Stewart popping in.

    BTW, has the ever been a more cool-looking dude than Rod Stewart?

    norcal (862cdb)

  18. REAGAN ISSUES NEW RULES ON CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS

    “Mr. Reagan’s action came in the form of a newly issued ”implementation order” from William P. Clark, the national security adviser, who has been in charge of the recent White House drive against the unauthorized disclosure of classified material.

    David R. Gergen, the senior White House spokesman, said Mr. Clark’s directive was ”drawn up after careful consideration and consultation, and it draws a proper balance between the public’s legitimate right to know and the Government’s need to protect classified information.”…Under Mr. Clark’s new directive, everyone given access to documents used by the National Security Council will be required to sign a cover sheet, signifying their agreement to discuss the contents only with ”persons who are authorized by law to have access to this document…”

    https://www.nytimes.com/1982/02/03/us/reagan-issues-new-rules-on-classified-documents.html

    DCSCA (0f890d)

  19. I know I am relentlessly critical of the Biden Administration (a new post is going up imminently), but I can’t help but suspect that once they got busted earlier this week the Biden clan — who knew that Sloppy Joe had kept classified in unsecured locations for years — made the immediate decision to rat themselves out in the hopes that they can spin this as them being extra diligent and careful to ensure that they account for every one of them.

    Don’t be surprised if there are one or two more “discoveries” in the days to come and the dominant media narrative becomes “See, the Biden people took this seriously and worked hard to make a full inventory and return all misplaced classified documents to their proper location.” Our rancid media is already trying to make Team Biden into the heroes of this story.

    JVW (6458d0)

  20. @19. Wait ’til they rummage through his classified stashes from the 70’s and 80’s.

    There’s a half century of Biden droppings to ‘sniff’ through.

    DCSCA (0f890d)

  21. JVW,

    RL formerly of Glendale suggested yesterday that perhaps the info was leaked by a potential rival for 2024 wanting to get abides out of the race. What do you think?

    Dana (1225fc)

  22. I laid out some scenarios in another thread, JVW, and the classified documents at a second location puts scenario #1 as most probable. I didn’t consider enough Biden’s general incompetence and sloppiness.

    Paul Montagu (8f0dc7)

  23. Sloppy Joe

    JVW (6458d0) — 1/11/2023 @ 6:59 pm

    That term has added resonance now.

    norcal (862cdb)

  24. BTW, has the ever been a more cool-looking dude than Rod Stewart?

    Um, yes! Jagger, SRV, and Jimmy Page for starters.

    Dana (1225fc)

  25. I’ll trust your woman’s perspective, Dana.

    norcal (862cdb)

  26. What is odd is the Nov. 2 date. What compelled them to check Penn five days before the midterms? I suspect they were indeed tipped off. By whom, I have no clue. Also, if they were tipped off, would it have been by a friendly from the media, or anonymously from a 2024 hopeful’s camp? They had to be panicked either way. Biden had been in office for a while already.

    Dana (1225fc)

  27. Bidens lawyers “immediately turned over the documents”. I think “immediately” needs investigation. Was it “immediately” after they were caught? How come we are finding about it now

    Biden can’t be prosecuted since the DOJ (an executive branch operation) says a sitting President should not be. OK. But the “crimes” were committed before Biden was elected and now its like he moved to Cuba and can’t be extradited. Rep. Santos should claim the same privilege

    steveg (6d7bae)

  28. It could be a political rival, but I do think the more likely scenario is that someone — not Joe Biden himself but perhaps someone like Ron Klain — said, “Uh, we don’t need a pre-election surprise here; let’s check the archives at Penn to see if there is any classified material there that we need to worry about.” But I am of the opinion that Joe Biden has very little to do with his own Presidency. It could be that they heard someone was checking into the archives and they might have feared that it was a GOP operative rather than a rival Democrat, so that’s why they decided to not wait until after the election to look into this matter.

    JVW (6458d0)

  29. @26

    As a former federal employee, I’ll give you the top three possibilities:

    Win — Sloth

    Place — Incompetence

    Show — Power grab

    norcal (862cdb)

  30. Bidens lawyers “immediately turned over the documents”. I think “immediately” needs investigation. Was it “immediately” after they were caught? How come we are finding about it now

    That’s what bothers me too. The media is reporting with complete credulity that Team Biden is cooperating, but I’m guessing the only people who are corroborating that story are, well, members of Team Biden and allies in the Justice Department. It would be nice if they would show a bit more interest in getting to the truth of the matter, but that might embarrass Democrats, right?

    JVW (6458d0)

  31. That seems a little too neat for me, JVW. But I suppose we’ll find out more soon enough.

    Dana (1225fc)

  32. My 31 is in response to your 28.

    Dana (1225fc)

  33. 26,

    A friendly from the media would just be a cutout. They wouldn’t have direct knowledge of the documents.

    frosty (96a92d)

  34. 30,

    We’re only hearing about this now because it looks like the House might have themselves some investigations.

    But otherwise, everything about the story is crafted and that by itself tells a story.

    frosty (96a92d)

  35. Not that the classification issue has come up regarding Biden and his document problem, or that classification is relevant to either Trump or Biden, but the vice president is an “original classification authority“.

    Original classification authority means an individual authorized in writing, either by the President, the Vice President, or by agency heads or other officials designated by the President, to classify information in the first instance.

    Paul Montagu (8f0dc7)

  36. Start looking under the rocks– and tombstones— of all the presidents and they’re underlings and there’s a good chance you’ll uncover more files of classified docs gone astray or ‘liberated’ in the modern era for personal purposes, memoir writing or just plain incompetence.

    This government classifies too much crap– and for too long… to cover bureaucratic azzes or just to wield control– as information is power. Take the Area 51 BS for instance… as if nobody knew it was there… the Skylab pix of the base is particularly amusing as it was already in the NASA/Skylab catalog decades ago available for public access decades ago…

    Area 51 Declassified: Documents Reveal Cold War ‘Hide-and-Seek’

    Newly declassified documents reveal more detail about past use of the mysterious Nevada test site known as Area 51 and the concern for maintaining secrecy about the work done at the facility.

    The recently released papers, which date mostly from the early 1960s into the 1970s, spotlight the U.S. government’s desire for tight security at Area 51, also known as Groom Lake. The area was photographed with American reconnaissance assets to better assess what the Soviet Union’s spy satellites might be able to discern.

    The documents also detail the debate over the possible release of a photograph “inadvertently” taken of the secret facility by NASA astronauts aboard the Skylab space station in 1974. More than 60 declassified documents in an Area 51 file were posted on the Internet by the National Security Archive late last month, compiled and edited by archive senior fellow Jeffrey Richelson. The archive is located at The George Washington University in Washington, D.C.

    Those of you hoping for information about captured aliens and flying saucers will be disappointed.

    A number of documents focus on the quest to develop stealth capability in aircraft. Others report on another type of activity at Area 51 — the exploitation of covertly acquired Soviet MiG fighter jets.

    American engineers assessed the design, performance and limitations of MiGs in an attempt to learn their vulnerabilities — knowledge that could come in handy during combat situations.

    Spysat overflights

    An April 1962 document sourced to the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) outlines the rationale for photographing Area 51 by either a high-flying U-2 spy plane or a then-classified CORONA reconnaissance satellite. The idea was viewed as a means of seeing what the Soviet Union might learn from its own satellite images of the facility.

    This would provide “a pretty fair idea of what deductions and conclusions could be made by the Soviets should Sputnik 13 have a reconnaissance capability,” explains the memorandum, which was marked “secret.” [Gallery: Declassified US Spy Satellite Photos & Designs]

    Also part of the plan, the memo states, was having a U-2 image Area 51: “Without advising the photographic interpreters of what the target is, ask them to determine what type of activity is being conducted at the site photographed,” the memo states.

    Skylab image

    Also of interest is another document, dated April 11, 1974, from the deputy director of the NRO to the chairman of the director of central intelligence’s Committee on Imagery Requirements and Exploitation. This memorandum discusses what to do about a photograph taken by Skylab astronauts of Area 51, outlining the issues to be considered in deciding whether or not to release the photograph.

    The two-page document, marked “Top Secret,” mentions a draft decision paper that focuses on the “relative merits of retaining [deleted in document] as a high-priority secret national security installation versus the merits of the NASA belief that there would be domestic and foreign problems created by withholding the photograph.”

    The April 1974 memo also says that the Skylab photograph “in the public domain would almost certainly provide strong stimulus for media questioning and the potential near-term revelation of the missions of the installation.” A follow-up memorandum from April 19, 1974, marked “Confidential” for then-Director of Central Intelligence William Colby, explains that the recent Skylab mission “inadvertently photographed” Area 51, and that there were “specific instructions not to do this.”

    The memo also reports that the Skylab photo is the subject of an interagency review and that Department of Defense officials believed it should be withheld from public release.

    At the time, NASA — and, to a large extent, the State Department — took the position that the image should be released. It would be allowed to go into a repository in Sioux Falls, S.D., that contained satellite remote sensing data of the Earth’s land surface and “let nature take its course,” the memo states.

    The April 19 memo explains that there are some complicated precedents that should be reviewed before a final decision could be made about the Skylab image. For example, there was a question of whether anything photographed in the U.S. can be classified if the platform from which the image was taken, such as NASA’s Skylab, is unclassified.

    In addition, the April 19 memo notes that there are some complex issues in the United Nations concerning U.S. policies about imagery from space. Further, the document raises the question of whether or not the photo would be leaked anyway, even if it were withheld.

    The memo also carries handwritten responses by the CIA’s Colby. Colby expressed some doubts about the need to protect the image, since the Soviet Union had it from their satellites anyway. He further asked, “If exposed, don’t we just say classified USAF [U.S. Air Force] work is done there?”

    Dwayne Day, an American space historian, policy analyst and author, has previously written on Area 51, as well as the 1974 Skylab image flap.

    It turns out that the Skylab shot of Area 51 was placed in NASA’s collection of Skylab photographs, Day said, but nobody had noticed. So, in the end, NASA won its argument with the intelligence community over the image, he said.

    As for playing Cold War hide-and-seek at Area 51 with the Soviet Union, Day said the Soviets had spy satellites and that they could certainly see the airfield.

    “But, of course, the CIA knew the flight paths of Soviet satellites, and they would avoid having their aircraft in the open when satellites were overhead,” Day told SPACE.com. “The best form of concealment is a big hangar where you can park all your planes.”

    Day said that there has been at least one report of an effort at Groom Lake to create a fake heat signature for orbiting satellites to see.

    “I have my doubts about that,” Day said. “The timing is wrong — too early for anybody to expect the Soviet Union to be capable of that kind of infrared observation.”

    Day said he’s also wondered about a photograph taken at Area 51 showing a line of A-12 OXCART spy planes, probably from 1964. OXCART was the label given to the CIA’s A-12 program, meant to come after the U-2 to perform reconnaissance flights over the Soviet Union.

    “The Soviets did not always have reconnaissance satellites in orbit,” Day said, “so did the CIA line these planes up for a beauty shot when they knew that they were safe from observation? Or, did they simply not care?” To dive into the Area 51 files, go to the National Security Archive’s website: http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB443/

    source, https://www.space.com/23476-area-51-declassified-cold-war-documents.html

    DCSCA (d6dd79)

  37. I’ve updated the post. The White House confirms that the documents with classified markings were located in President Biden’s garage.

    Dana (1225fc)

  38. 37,

    No worries, I’m pretty sure this was a locked garage

    frosty (589c00)

  39. @37. ‘a ‘locked garage’… with typical garage crap and Lunch Bucket Joe’s Corvette… check the glove compartment—- (and, per ‘Popeye’ Doyle, rip out the rocker panels.)

    1. who has access to the garage- like to start up and run his pricey man-of-the-people hot-rod every week or so? Housekeepers, gardeners, Hunter… and…

    2. what are the dates on the documents</em>… are they from his current gig… or his VP days.. or senate days…

    Every one of his hovels has to be tossed and searched.

    DCSCA (c9c5f3)

  40. The people most upset about these Biden docs seem to be D/NeverTrump.

    It wasn’t hard to argue HRC’s case vs DT even though that wasn’t a sure win. It’s going to be impossible to argue that DT needs to be frog marched to jail while also arguing that what HRC and JB did was NBD.

    I do respect that they’re trying though.

    frosty (589c00)

  41. @40. Nonsense. If a bureaucrat– or you- did this you’d be arrested, fined, prosecuted and imprisoned.

    DCSCA (c9c5f3)

  42. 18 U.S. Code § 1924 – Unauthorized removal and retention of classified documents or material

    (a)Whoever, being an officer, employee, contractor, or consultant of the United States, and, by virtue of his office, employment, position, or contract, becomes possessed of documents or materials containing classified information of the United States, knowingly removes such documents or materials without authority and with the intent to retain such documents or materials at an unauthorized location shall be fined under this title or imprisoned for not more than five years, or both.

    https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/1924

    DCSCA (c9c5f3)

  43. Biden Mocked for Storing Classified Files With His Corvette: ‘I Can’t Even’

    President Joe Biden was mocked by some social media users on Thursday after the White House confirmed that classified documents dating back to the Barack Obama administration were found at his private residence in Wilmington, Delaware.

    “I hope Joe Biden’s Corvette is at least a hybrid, if not fully electric,” tweeted Nick Adams, a conservative author and outspoken Donald Trump supporter.

    Meanwhile, British sports commentator Ross Dyer wrote “I can’t even…”

    “Joe Biden takes classified documents so seriously, guys, that he keeps them by his Corvette in the garage. I’m sold. Nothing says this really matters to me like keeping it in the garage, the universal place where Americans put things they aren’t willing to keep in the house,” tweeted Clay Travis, a radio host and TV analyst. News about classified documents found at Biden’s residence came shortly after Biden’s special counsel announced that an earlier batch of confidential records was found on November 2 at an office that the president previously used.

    Biden has defended storing the documents at a storage space in his home garage, saying on Thursday that “it’s not like they’re sitting in the street.” -newsweek.com

    So the docs are from his VP days????

    OMG:

    HOW COULD ANYBODY BE THAT IRRESPONSIBLE?”

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=foZBU0tOPW8

    DCSCA (c9c5f3)

  44. Dana was commenting about bad optics when the first revelation came out.

    Actually, these are the bad optics. You never want a story that goes drip, drip, drip. If the first leak about the first lot of found stuff was a “friendly”, then Biden needs to fire his rapid response team. If Biden had announced this all at once — the usual sources would have harumphed and there would be a bellow of rage from Mar-A-Lago. But it would have been a one day story and Justice may have still been able to get away with indiciting Trump for his breach of security protocol.

    Now — welp, it will be bad optics.

    Appalled (03f53c)

  45. The classified VP docs in his “locked garage” were discovered December 20th??

    AG is appointing a special counsel.

    DCSCA (c9c5f3)

  46. @44. But it would have been a one day story…

    Don’t kid yourself. This boob has been in government half-a-century… a senator, was on the Foreign Relations Committee… a VP… they’re going to find more of it. He’s a frigging imbecile.

    DCSCA (c9c5f3)

  47. “People know I take classified documents and classified materials seriously… as I said earlier this week, and by the way, my Corvette is in a locked garage, so it’s not like they’re sitting out on the street…” – Lunch Bucket McStumblebum

    “They’ve been kept in a mayonnaise jar on Funk and Wagnalls’ porch since noon today…” – Carnac The Magnificent [Johnny Carson] The Tonight Show w/ Johnny Carson, NBC TV

    DCSCA (c9c5f3)

  48. Fox News has reported a THIRD discovery has been made — in the residence. Details to come…

    DCSCA (c9c5f3)

  49. There is so much we don’t know about this that I hesitate to offer an opinion, other than this from watching Biden for decades: Most likely this is another time when Hanlon’s Razor applies, it’s incompetence rather than malice. And possibly not even Biden’s incompetence. Ordinarily presidents do not do their own filing.

    (Hanlon’s Razor is not a universal rule, though stated that way. I think we all know — though some are still refusing to admit the obvious — that Trump’s crude attempts to steal secret documents is an example of both incompetence and malice.)

    Jim Miller (f29931)

  50. And possibly not even Biden’s incompetence.

    All evidence to the contrary… Half a century of lying; plagiarism, etc.

    There’s decades of his crap to ‘sniff’ through. And the fish rots from the head down.

    DCSCA (c9c5f3)

  51. Garland Names Special Counsel in Biden Documents Case

    Attorney General Merrick B. Garland on Thursday appointed Robert K. Hur, a veteran prosecutor who worked in the Trump administration, to handle the investigation into how classified documents from President Biden’s time as vice president ended up at his private office and home.

    Mr. Hur, who previously served as the U.S. attorney for Maryland during the Trump administration, is responsible for investigating “the possible unauthorized removal and retention of classified documents or other records discovered” at the office of Mr. Biden’s think tank in Washington and his residence in Wilmington, Del., according to the order signed by Mr. Garland on Thursday.

    Mr. Hur, who also served as a top department official in the deputy attorney general’s office in 2017 and 2018, is authorized to prosecute any crimes arising from the inquiry or to refer matters for prosecution by federal attorneys in other jurisdictions, the order said.
    ……..
    Mr. Hur, who is a partner at the white-collar law firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, had been appointed by Mr. Trump as the U.S. attorney for the District of Maryland in 2018, leaving that position when the Trump administration ended.
    …….
    ……Mr. Hur had a significant career in an apolitical role as an assistant federal prosecutor in that office from 2007 to 2014, and then had worked as a trial lawyer in private practice before coming back to the Justice Department to assist Mr. Rosenstein.

    According to a biography, Mr. Hur’s prosecutorial career included cases involving gang violence, gun offenses and drug trafficking, as well as white-collar crimes like fraud, public corruption, tax offenses, hacking, and intellectual property theft.

    Mr. Hur also prosecuted high-profile domestic terrorism cases.
    ……..

    I doubt that these revelations, if released five days prior to the mid-term election, would have had any significant impact on the result. Mid-terms are hundreds of individual races, focused more on the district/state they are conducted. If this had occurred during a presidential election, that would be completely different.

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  52. I doubt that these revelations, if released five days prior to the mid-term election, would have had any significant impact on the result. Mid-terms are hundreds of individual races, focused more on the district/state they are conducted. If this had occurred during a presidential election, that would be completely different.

    Most people would not have heard about it, but a sizable fraction would have. It would have significantly altered the results of close races, since a different winner is significant. It would NOT have tilted anything towards the Democrats, and if there is any real sin in America, it’s hypocrisy.

    The only thing that would have protected Democrats is early voting, and again we see what that is such a bad idea.

    Kevin M (1ea396)

  53. * what why

    Kevin M (1ea396)

  54. All evidence to the contrary… Half a century of lying; plagiarism, etc.

    But his Mr Fumblesticks image is a solid defense to everything.

    Kevin M (1ea396)

  55. I think we all know — though some are still refusing to admit the obvious — that Trump’s crude attempts to steal secret documents is an example of both incompetence and malice.

    His attempt to retain certain documents were based on ego and possibly self-defense,, not malice. Malice would only apply to documents retained to hurt others and there is not one example of that alleged.

    His refusal to communicate with those seeking the documents return may have been based on malice, but again that’s not what you said.

    I think the obvious thing that some refuse to admit is that their view of this episode is indelibly conflated with their feelings about Trump.

    Kevin M (1ea396)

  56. Kristian Saucier got a year in prison for much less

    I really wouldn’t mind seeing Trump and Biden sharing the same cell

    It’s NeverTrump that is so heavily invested in seeing Biden get away with it, and who would let Trump skate just to make that happen

    JF (d3f8db)

  57. It’s NeverTrump that is so heavily invested in seeing Biden get away with it, and who would let Trump skate just to make that happen

    JF (d3f8db) — 1/12/2023 @ 12:21 pm

    At first but I’m suspecting the opposite fairly soon. I think there are Ds and NeverTrumps that are ok throwing JB under the bus just because this means all that sturm und drang over the DT docs was wasted. It doesn’t help that they tried to cover for him at first.

    frosty (aad926)

  58. Kristian Saucier got a year in prison for much less

    And, back in Clinton’s day, a doctor was imprisoned for lying under oath about sex with a patient.

    Also, a buddy of Geithner’s at the World Bank, who “forgot” to declare income on his tax forms (just like Geithner) was send to prison. He had tried the TurboTax-didn’t-ask defense. Didn’t work.

    Kevin M (1ea396)

  59. I hope they check his back yard for buried document boxes. Or cash.

    Kevin M (1ea396)

  60. The WH line: “They did the right thing.”

    Except they didn’t. THe docs should never have been removed to begin with… especially as VP.

    Bust the bastard.

    DCSCA (1c89d0)

  61. But his Mr Fumblesticks image is a solid defense to everything.

    … and Putin smiled. Xi grinned… the Taliban cheered… and Kim is counting down to another liftoff.

    DCSCA (1c89d0)

  62. Worse, the statement Biden made in Mexico on this was a blatant lie.

    Because the WH knew when he made it there was a second stash discovered on December 20.

    DCSCA (1c89d0)

  63. DCSCA (c9c5f3) — 1/12/2023 @ 10:38 am

    Fox News has reported a THIRD discovery has been made — in the residence. Details to come…

    When were alll these discoveries made?

    This one was in the library.

    They’re only talking about classified documents – not just plain papers considered government records.

    Most, if not all of those, presidential records were not taken from the National Archives, but they were supposed to go there when they left office.

    On November 2 Bidens’s lawyers notified White House counsel and Biden, who notified the National Archives, who in turn notified the Department of Justice. They were probably searchingasaprecaution, intending, if anything became public, to say this was all resolved long ago.

    When Kevin McCarthy was elected Speaker and Comer looked to be named head of the Government Oversight committee, it became certain that the Natiosal Archives would be asked a general question and that’s probably why it was leaked. So that Republicans would not reveal it.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  64. 59,

    In a room somewhere near DC recently:

    FBI Agent #4: We’re going to need a list of everywhere Celtic has had a bm in the last 12 years.
    SS Agent #8: Everywhere?
    SS Agent #3: Is this just limited to places we can loosely define as a room?


    after a lengthy discussion of various enclosed spaces.

    FBI Agent #2: We also need to talk about any place he might have slept.
    SS Agent #5: Do naps count?

    Also, in another room near DC recently:

    MSS Agent #2: The FBI will know what we know after they find all of these docs from Leprechaun.
    MSS Agent #3: No. Just all that we learned from Leprechaun.

    frosty (aad926)

  65. JF:

    NeverTrump is heavily invested in seeing that Trump is neverPresident. Other than that, I don’t see any great thrill for Biden skating on this.

    We don’t know enough to convince me that this is anything more than the usual carelessness of elected officials with documents they believe are overclassified.

    Appalled (e711d8)

  66. The carelessness was with stuff that by law since 1978 was supposed to go to the National Archives.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  67. But his Mr Fumblesticks image is a solid defense to everything.

    Kevin M (1ea396) — 1/12/2023 @ 11:59 am

    Not everything, but some things. If, as I’ve argued here, Trump’s deranged beliefs may be a get out of jail free card for certain specific intent offenses, so may Biden’s obliviousness. And to be clear, it’s not just an image. It’s who he is.

    lurker (cd7cd4)

  68. FBI, Justice Department Routinely Prosecute Misuse of Classified Documents

    April 2005 – Former U.S. national security adviser Sandy Berger pleaded guilty to knowingly removing classified documents from the National Archives and Records Administration. Berger admitted to concealing and removing five copies of a classified document from the Archives in September and October 2003. Berger also admitted to concealing and removing handwritten notes in violation of the Archives’ policy. In September 2005, Berger was ordered to pay a $50,000 fine and give up his security clearance for three years.

    March 2013 –Retired Lieutenant Colonel Benjamin Pierce Bishop was arrested in Hawaii and charged with one count of unlawfully retaining documents related to the national defense and one count of willfully communicating national defense information to a person not entitled to receive such information. Court papers alleged Bishop, who was working for a defense contractor, stored 12 documents containing classified information at his residence. The documents further allege Bishop willfully communicated that information to a 27-year-old Chinese woman with whom he had a relationship. Bishop pleaded guilty in March 2014. He was sentenced to more than seven years in prison followed by three years of supervised release.

    March 2015 – Retired U.S. Army General David Petraeus, a former CIA director, pleaded guilty to one count of unauthorized removal and retention of classified material. The plea followed revelations that Petraeus shared some of the materials with his biographer and mistress. Petraeus was sentenced to two years of probation and a $100,000 fine.

    July 2015 – U.S. Navy reservist Bryan Nishimura was sentenced to two years of probation and a $7,500 fine after he pleaded guilty to downloading and storing classified documents from his deployment to Afghanistan in 2007-2008 on his personal devices and media. A search of his home in May 2012 turned up numerous classified materials, both in digital and hard copy formats.

    August 2016 – Former National Security Agency contractor Harold Martin was arrested for what federal prosecutors described as a theft of top-secret government information that was “breathtaking in its longevity and scale.” Martin was indicted in February 2017 on charges of stealing and retaining classified documents and other material, according to a statement from the Justice Department. The department further alleged Martin “stole and retained” highly classified top secret documents covering 20 years, keeping them in his home and in his vehicle.

    According to the indictment, the documents stolen and retained by Martin contained NSA planning information and information on intelligence collection targets. Other documents, from U.S. Cyber Command, contained information on U.S. military capabilities, some to be used in specific operations, and documents about gaps in U.S. cyber capabilities. Martin pleaded guilty to the willful retention of national defense information in March 2019. In July 2019, Martin was sentenced to nine years in prison, followed by three years of supervised release.

    January 2017 – Former defense contractor and sailor Weldon Marshall was arrested for unlawfully retaining classified information, stored on compact discs and computer hard drives that he kept at his home in Texas. The information included classified documents from Marshall’s time with the U.S. Navy and from his time as a defense contractor in Afghanistan. Marshall pleaded guilty in March 2018. He was sentenced in June 2018 to more than three years in prison followed by a year of supervised release.

    January 2018 – Former CIA officer Jerry Chun Shing Lee, also known as Zhen Cheng Li, was arrested on charges of unlawful retention of national defense information. Prosecutors alleged that Lee, while staying at hotels in Hawaii and Virginia, was in possession of two, small books that contained handwritten notes that included the true names and phone numbers of assets and covert CIA employees, operational notes from asset meetings, operational meeting locations and locations of covert facilities. Lee was indicted in May 2018 on two counts of unlawfully retaining documents related to the national defense, as well as one count of conspiracy to deliver national defense information to a foreign government. Lee pleaded guilty and was sentenced in November 2019 to 19 years in prison for conspiring to communicate, deliver and transmit national defense information to China.

    May 2018 – Former CIA contractor Reynaldo Regis pleaded guilty to charges of unauthorized removal and retention of classified materials, as well as to making false statements to federal law enforcement officers. Prosecutors said during his time at the CIA, Reyes conducted unauthorized searches of classified databases and copied the information into dozens of notebooks, which he then took home. In November 2018, Reyes was sentenced to 90 days in jail. Regis’ lawyer later told the Associated Press and other news outlets that his client “had no nefarious purpose. It was just a mistake.”

    August 2019 – Former National Security Agency (NSA) employee Elizabeth Jo Shirley was arrested in Mexico City on charges of parental kidnapping and was later charged with retaining top secret documents on her electronic devices, both in Mexico and some stored at her home in West Virginia. Prosecutors additionally alleged that Shirley sought to offer the information to the Russian government. In July 2020, Shirley pleaded guilty to one count of willful retention of national defense information and to one count of international parental kidnapping. She was sentenced in January 2021 to more than eight years in prison for the willful retention of national defense information. She was also sentenced to three years in prison on the kidnapping charges.

    June 2020 — Investigators conducted a search of the Hawaii home of Asia Janay Lavarello, a U.S. Defense Department employee, following her return from a temporary assignment to the U.S. Embassy in Manila. Investigators found numerous classified documents, writings, and notes relating to the national defense or foreign relations and said the documents – first seen by guests at a dinner party hosted by Lavarello – had not been transported by secure diplomatic pouch, as required. Lavarello pleaded guilty to knowingly removing classified information in July 2021. She was sentenced in February 2022 to three months in prison and a $5,500 fine.

    May 2021 – Kendra Kingsbury, an employee at the FBI’s Kansas City division, was indicted on two counts of having unauthorized possession of documents relating to the national defense. The court documents allege Kingsbury removed sensitive material and classified documents from her workplace over a period of more than 12 years and kept them at her home. One of the documents included information on al-Qaida members in Africa, including a suspected associate of al-Qaida founder Osama bin Laden.

    https://www.voanews.com/a/fbi-justice-department-routinely-prosecute-misuse-of-classified-documents/6694887.html

    And, of course, the Commander In Chief needs remined of this: Bradley Manning Sentenced to 35 Years for Leaking Secrets

    Aug., 2013 — FT. MEADE, Md. — Bradley Manning, the Army private convicted of leaking hundreds of thousands of classified documents to the website WikiLeaks, was sentenced to 35 years in a military prison. – abcnews.com

    “People know I take classified documents and classified materials seriously… as I said earlier this week, and by the way, my Corvette is in a locked garage, so it’s not like they’re sitting out on the street…” – Lunch Bucket McStumblebum

    No, Joey. People now know you just take them.

    Bust the bastard.

    DCSCA (1c89d0)

  69. 67,

    There is a difference between deranged beliefs and obliviousness. If JB is claiming obliviousness it’s a tacit admission of his inability to carry out his oath of office. That his supporters would find this acceptable is also disturbing.

    frosty (aad926)

  70. Paul Montagu (8f0dc7) — 1/11/2023 @ 8:12 pm

    We need to find the applicable EO signed by the president at the time the documents were taken from the secure facility and not some DoT regulation from 1997 to determine if Joe might be able to use the same excuse as Trump.

    This Obama EO from 2009 does NOT list the VP as an original classification authority: https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/executive-order-original-classification-authority

    Also, if Biden was an OCA he could only declassify the docs he originally classified unless he had it in writing otherwise from the president.

    kaf (6fa9cd)

  71. @69: Obliviousness is my word. I wouldn’t expect his supporters to use it any more than Trump’s would call him deranged. There are less damning ways to characterize both.

    lurker (cd7cd4)

  72. Baghdad Bob had better credibility than the lunch bucket Corvette driver.

    DCSCA (1c89d0)

  73. DCSCA (1c89d0) — 1/12/2023 @ 1:46 pm

    In each prosecuted case, either the information was exposed to others (whether intentional or not), or the believed it had been but could not prove it. In Sandy Berger’s case he destroyed documents showing just how badly Clinton errored wrt OBL.

    Kevin M (1ea396)

  74. Sandy Berger destroyed copies of documents (by then they were on to him) and doing that helped him and Bill Clinton lie to the 9/11 commission claiming that Clinton had stopped the Millenium attack. (he destroyed the after action report copy that was supposed to go to the 9/1 commission )

    He may have destroyed other documents that enabled them to tell other lies but he might have done that while still in office — he needed to see what was there to know what lies he could tell. He may have destroyed evidence that Sudan offered to turn over Osama bin Laden.

    Sammy FInkelman (1d215a)

  75. No worries, I’m pretty sure this was a locked garage

    frosty (589c00) — 1/12/2023 @ 9:07 am

    I didn’t know the President of the United States was actually going to use that excuse when I posted that.

    frosty (362f09)

  76. Bill Clinton also mysteriously cancelled at the last minute an assassination attempt aaginst Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan.

    But what Sandy Berger was caught at was attempting to destroy a document that put the lie to what he and Bill Clinton were claiming about having put the US on alert before December 31, 1999

    Sammy FInkelman (1d215a)

  77. 62.

    the statement Biden made in Mexico on this was a blatant lie.

    No, just subtly misleading.

    https://www.reuters.com/world/us/biden-we-are-cooperating-with-review-classified-documents-2023-01-10

    President Joe Biden said on Tuesday he was surprised to learn that classified documents were found in a think-tank office he once used and said he and his team are cooperating fully with a review into what happened.

    Biden didn’t say when he was surprised, nor did he say that was the only time documents were discovered.

    But if you pay careful attention, you will see that he said he was surprised back in November.

    https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2023/01/10/remarks-by-president-biden-prime-minister-trudeau-and-president-lopez-obrador-in-joint-press-conference

    When my lawyers were clearing out my office at the University of Pennsylvania, they set up an office for me — a secure office in the Capitol, when I — the four years after being Vice President, I was a professor at Penn.

    They found some documents in a box — you know, a locked cabinet, or at least a closet. And as soon as they did, they realized there were several classified documents in that box. And they did what they should have done: They immediately called the Archives — immediately called the Archives, turned them over to the Archives. And I was briefed about this discovery and surprised to learn that there were any government records that were taken there to that office.

    But I don’t know what’s in the documents. I’ve — my lawyers have not suggested I ask what documents they were. I’ve turned over the boxes — they’ve turned over the boxes to the Archives. And we’re cooperating fully — cooperating fully with the review, and — which I hope will be finished soon, and will be more detail at that time.

    His lawyers have suggested he keep himself ignorant.

    Sammy FInkelman (1d215a)

  78. @73. Clearly Joey’s has been exposed to others. He feigns surprise, expresses not knowing how any of it got there– nd is more conceren over his corvette being safe. Who know how may sdweebs saw the stuff since his VP days… and wait ’til they go through his senate crap. Worse, lawyers have seen it.

    Bust the bastard.

    DCSCA (e4e9ea)

  79. Biden’s latest comments about the documents in his garage seemed more funny than anything else. Biden has probably seen thousands of classified documents in his life and the idea that some of them ended up in his garage doesn’t seem outlandish or even very outrageous (except for his hypocrisy in bashing Trump for not properly storing the classified documents he had). Who doesn’t misplace things over time? I came across a box in my garage a few weeks ago that turned out to contain some old case files that I’d totally forgotten, although on the bright side one of the files had a motion in it that I’d apparently drafted that was actually not bad. I’ve never had a classified document in my possession and if I were to have one, would make sure to comply strictly with the rules governing it, but if I’d had thousands of them would probably have gotten pretty jaded over time and might be chagrined, but not terribly surprised, to discover that some of them were not where they were supposed to be. So I guess we should be concerned about Biden’s documents, and perhaps even Concerned if there are a lot more, but for now am willing to cut him some slack on this. For those of you who remember MASH, all this makes me wonder if we’re becoming a country of Col. Flaggs.

    RL formerly in Glendale (48bc71)

  80. I think Biden is handling this just fine. In a stand-up way. In a grown-up way. In a Presidential way.

    Not in a pursed-mouth-like-a-duck’s-anus way, lying about having them, claiming he had declassified them, claiming that the FBI planted them, sniveling that the FBI rummaged through his wife’s underwear, using them for fundraising.

    nk (086045)

  81. 80,

    Yep. Storing classified documents in the garage with your corvette is both standup, grownup, and presidential. It’s good to know what people appreciate.

    frosty (362f09)

  82. A 1967 Corvette? Any place where anyone kept it, would be a very secure place.

    But have a fish, anyway.

    nk (086045)

  83. 82,

    I suppose that’s at least a standard. Hunter had access so it was at least secure enough for crack and the things he enjoys. A secure place indeed.

    frosty (362f09)

  84. A 1967 Corvette? Any place where anyone kept it, would be a very secure place.

    ROFLMAOPIP

    [STOLEN] Authorities Searching for a 1967 Corvette Sting Ray in Washington State

    https://www.corvetteblogger.com/2020/02/14/stolen-authorities-searching-for-a-1967-corvette-sting-ray-in-washington-state/

    “Unfortunately your car was a Corvette. They are a favorite target of your professional car ring.” – ‘Corvette Summer’ 1978

    DCSCA (5c50c7)

  85. His lawyers have suggested he keep himself ignorant.

    To be himself.

    And they billed him for that advice, too. LOL

    DCSCA (5c50c7)

  86. You can see how somebody fed up in Camp Kamala may have set this in motion w/a leak. Especially after the hot coals Joey’s been raking her over of late.

    DCSCA (5c50c7)

  87. 85,

    For a mentally capable person this would be the equivalent of pleading the 5th. For JB this is his lawyers telling him they don’t believe he’s capable of not incriminating himself if they tell him anything.

    frosty (362f09)

  88. All Joe’s team needs to do is follow the Trump team blueprint to the letter, but in reverse.
    Columnists will swoon over Bidens legal team, their honesty, their character, their guidance of the man, Biden, who is saving our democracy.
    To be fair to Trump, he knew he was going to get the 2016 inauguration week Comey treatment (hit the new guy who isn’t one of us insiders right out of the gate) and knew they’d be salivating so strongly over a document “scandal” they could barely gloat. Trump went with what he knows from NYC and had his legal team fight over every leaf of paper. Our system says that lawyering up and fighting isn’t supposed to be officially interpreted as guilt, but they sure have perfected the art of implication.
    I’m more inclined to be charitable to a guy who spent only 4 years in Washington vs a lifetime Washington sludge for brains “Come on man, everybody knows…” hypocrite but in the interests of even handedness, I say
    Pox on all their houses

    steveg (80d949)

  89. Who doesn’t misplace things over time?

    99.9999999999999999999999% of them aren’t POTUS. Or VPOTUS.

    He’s the responsible officer of gov ernment. And video has surfaced of him backing his Vet into “the garage” which looks about like most other Americvan garages; and as secure as a costume on a Vegas stripper.

    DCSCA (beb3c2)

  90. Biden classified documents: 2020 campaign video shows him backing Corvette into garage

    https://www.foxnews.com/politics/biden-classified-documents-2020-campaign-video-backing-corvette-garage

    DCSCA (beb3c2)

  91. @88 do republicans want Kamela Harris to run as sitting president? I don’t think so. Do most democrats want a senile old fool running again. I don’t think so. Democrats wanting to run in 2024 have the most to gain by this and their operatives in and out of the white house know this. The files were left ready to be used until needed when biden says he is thinking about running in 2024. The mafia calls this a mercy killing. They (DNC) are afraid AOC jumps in 2024 race while establishment democrats defer to biden until its to late! Same thing just happened in california senate race to diane fienstein who is more senile then joe! Porter, lee and schiff have all jumped in to stop a latinx candidate like one of the sanchez sisters sweeping in with the latinx vote.

    asset (e1fce9)

  92. I’m glad the DOJ is investigating this and it looks like they’ve put a solid prosecutor in charge of the case.

    Slight bit of credit to Biden and his legal team for reporting promptly, returning the documents and so far cooperating with the investigation.

    Time123 (ffde7b)

  93. This whole “handling classified documents” saga in these last 3 administrations is really something.

    It shows that there’s one rule for the VIPs (HRC, Patreus, Trump, Biden) and one rule for peons who can, and has, gone to jail.

    A pox on the VIPs…

    whembly (d116f3)

  94. We need to find the applicable EO signed by the president at the time the documents were taken from the secure facility and not some DoT regulation from 1997 to determine if Joe might be able to use the same excuse as Trump.

    1997? The link updated a couple days ago, and the authority has been unchanged since 2009 at the least.

    Paul Montagu (8f0dc7)

  95. All Joe’s team needs to do is follow the Trump team blueprint to the letter, but in reverse.

    So far, that isn’t working out so well. But he’ll get a friendly special prosecutor and we’ll get a no harm no foul ruling soon.

    The question is whether this will fool enough people. So far, that also doesn’t seem to be happening but it’s early in the process.

    frosty (aad926)

  96. Cynics are saying that the whole point of this special prosecutor is to preempt Congress from running an investigation, and to criticize Congress or “interference” if they do. They also question whether the SP is truly independent or whether his investigation is more than a sham.

    Kevin M (1ea396)

  97. whembly, it goes back to the Plame disclosure at least (courtesy of W’s VP). And don’t forget Biden’s disclosure of who conducted the raid on OBL, and what happened to that team.

    VP’s have big mouths and little jobs.

    Kevin M (1ea396)

  98. 2020 campaign video shows him backing Corvette into garage

    That was the third take. The first one had him in a forward gear. The second one had the garage door still closed.

    Kevin M (1ea396)

  99. It’s a witch hunt! There was no Corvette collusion! What did Biden appoint Garland for, if Garland was going to recuse himself?

    nk (2498aa)

  100. But remember who is next in line. If you think that Biden is a tongue-tied moron, what can you say about Ms Harris:

    “I love Venn diagrams. I do. I love Venn diagrams. So, the three circles — and you can do more! Nobody says a Venn diagram has to only be three circles, right?” Harris said Thursday.

    (Not to bother her with this pedantic correction)

    “I’m excited about electric school buses. I LOVE electric school buses. I just love them! For so many reasons. Maybe because I went to school on a school bus. Hey, raise your hand if you went to school on a school bus!” Harris exclaimed while raising her hand.

    I’ve convened and I’ve convened now at least three times a group that has their acronym CARICOM. It is the Caribbean nations. Island nations. In the Western Hemisphere. That is where the Caribbean is. We are also in the Western Hemisphere. They are our neighbors.

    “Ukraine is a country in Europe. It exists next to another country called Russia. Russia is a bigger country. Russia decided to invade a smaller country called Ukraine, so basically that’s wrong,” Harris said.

    https://www.foxnews.com/media/kamala-harris-mocked-repeating-several-word-salads-during-climate-crisis-talk-wtf-deal

    Kevin M (1ea396)

  101. Say what you want about Dick Cheney, he didn’t ever remind me of this:

    This is Spot. Spot is a Dog. See Spot run. Run, Spot, run!

    Kevin M (1ea396)

  102. 100 and 101,

    This was mentioned prior to electing them. But they were better than DT.

    frosty (aad926)

  103. @92. Slight bit of credit to Biden and his legal team for reporting promptly, returning the documents and so far cooperating with the investigation.

    Promptly???? The docs found, so far, guarded by the stoic, waxed and polished Sentry Corvette, were from his VP times long ago…

    “Prompt” is hardly a term to use w/this POS POTUS. He’s never on time as it is for anything:

    Why Biden’s always late

    President JOE BIDEN is not a punctual man. If you are a Biden aide, a waiting guest, or a reporter covering him, 20 minutes late is standard, but it’s wise to allow for up to an hour. “On the red lines schedulers put down, he is a habitual line stepper,” said one former aide. Other aides call it “Biden Standard Time” (or BST, if you prefer)…

    https://www.politico.com/newsletters/west-wing-playbook/2022/01/13/why-bidens-always-late-495720

    DCSCA (7d80a6)

  104. Biden orders locks changed at Fort Knox– and replaces military sentries with 1967 Corvettes.

    DCSCA (50586f)


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