DOJ reviewing classified documents found at former Biden office and residence, Special Counsel appointed (1 Viewer)

[SaintForLife]

Attorney General Merrick Garland has assigned the U.S. attorney in Chicago to review documents marked classified that were found at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement in Washington, two sources with knowledge of the inquiry told CBS News. The roughly 10 documents are from President Biden's vice-presidential office at the center, the sources said. CBS News has learned the FBI is also involved in the U.S. attorney's inquiry.

The material was identified by personal attorneys for Mr. Biden on Nov. 2, just before the midterm elections, Richard Sauber, special counsel to the president confirmed. The documents were discovered when Mr. Biden's personal attorneys "were packing files housed in a locked closet to prepare to vacate office space at the Penn Biden Center in Washington, D.C.," Sauber said in a statement to CBS News. The documents were contained in a folder that was in a box with other unclassified papers, the sources said. The sources revealed neither what the documents contain nor their level of classification. A source familiar with the matter told CBS News the documents did not contain nuclear secrets.

U.S. attorney reviewing documents marked classified from Joe Biden's vice presidency found at Biden think tank

His attorneys identified the material when cleaning out office space at the center and immediately notified the White House counsel.

www-cbsnews-com.cdn.ampproject.org

...The White House statement said that it “is cooperating” with the department but did not explain why Mr. Biden’s team waited more than two months to announce the discovery of the documents, which came a week before the midterm congressional elections when the news would have been an explosive last-minute development.

It also came shortly before Mr. Garland’s Nov. 18 appointment of Jack Smith as a special counsel to take over the criminal investigation into Mr. Trump’s failure to return a large number of classified documents that were sent to his Florida residence and club, Mar-a-Lago, when he left office — even after being subpoenaed.

Biden Lawyers Found Classified Material at His Former Office

The White House said it was cooperating as the Justice Department scrutinizes the matter.

www-nytimes-com.cdn.ampproject.org

A government watchdog is demanding the US attorney probing Hunter Biden in Delaware investigate tens of millions in anonymous donations from China to the University of Pennsylvania, where an academic center is named for his father, President Biden.

The Ivy League college raked in a total of $54.6 million from 2014 through June 2019 in donations from China, including $23.1 million in anonymous gifts starting in 2016, according to public records.

Most of the anonymous donations came after the university announced in February 2017 that it would create the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement. Joe Biden, whose term as vice president had just ended, was to lead the center and was also named a professor at the university.

The center, which is located in Washington, DC, opened its doors in February 2018. Antony Blinken, whom Biden named as secretary of state, briefly served as its managing director.

The Ivy League university received $15.8 million in anonymous Chinese gifts that year, including one eye-popping $14.5 million donation in May 2018, records show.

$54M in Chinese gifts donated to UPenn, home of Biden Center

The University of Pennsylvania raked in a total of $54.6 million from 2014 through June 2019 in donations from China.

www.google.com

 

[SFIDC3]

I just don't play the both sides game anymore, not after Trump and the current group of Republican's. It would take an actual scandal or serious malfeasance on the part of Biden or Democrats for me to lose faith in them given the alternative. This, much like the Hunter Biden laptop story, doesn't even come close.

Neither do I.....one party has lost its collective marbles, anything to stay in power....regardless of the consequences to the country....

The democratic party is far, far from perfect, but I still feel they are at least sane....

 

[SaintForLife]

It seems like Hunter used classified information in one of his emails to Devin Archer.

 

[Lapaz]

It seems like Hunter used classified information in one of his emails to Devin Archer.

What portion of that email is classified? I don't doubt that Joe spoke to his son about international issues, but that isn't against the law, unless it reveals secrets.

 

[coldseat]

It seems like Hunter used classified information in one of his emails to Devin Archer.

Wasn't the insight in the email the very reason Burisma was paying Hunter? Those types of strategic memo's are essential and standard at thousands of companies across the globe. That looks like more of a justification of his role there than anything else.

 

[bdb13]

It seems like Hunter used classified information in one of his emails to Devin Archer.

Admittedly I don't quite know enough here but after skimming that email and assuming it's legitimate.. I'm guessing it's really those first couple of bullet points that would potentially be of concern in regards to classified information?

My question I guess would be would it have required access to classified information at that time to ascertain that Poroshenko was likely to win or to believe the Russians would likely escalate in the east?

 

[SaintForLife]

Admittedly I don't quite know enough here but after skimming that email and assuming it's legitimate.. I'm guessing it's really those first couple of bullet points that would potentially be of concern in regards to classified information?

My question I guess would be would it have required access to classified information at that time to ascertain that Poroshenko was likely to win or to believe the Russians would likely escalate in the east?

Those bullet points seem to be the ones who are more likely to be from classified documents if he got that information was classified.

 

[SaintForLife]

What portion of that email is classified? I don't doubt that Joe spoke to his son about international issues, but that isn't against the law, unless it reveals secrets.

I have no idea, but the way the email was written it was different than any other emails that Hunter wrote in the past. It might be from classified documents and it might not, but considering Hunter had access to his dad's office and the garage where the classified documents were found it's fair to question it.

One striking email during this period stands out. It was from Hunter to Archer on April 13, 2014, a week before Joe Biden visited Ukraine to meet then-Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk and refers to “my guys upcoming travels.”

For Hunter, it was an uncharacteristically lengthy email, listing 22 points about Ukraine’s political situation, with detailed information about the upcoming election and predicting an escalation of Russia’s “destabilization campaign, which could lead to a full-scale takeover of the eastern region, most critically Donetsk.

“The strategic value is to create a land bridge for RU to Crimea. That won’t directly affect Burisma holdings but it will limit future UK exploration and utilization of offshore opportunities in particular,” Hunter wrote.

“It will also result in further destabilization of UK nationally and for whatever govt is in power. And the US will respond with even stronger sanctions. Those sanctions will threaten the tenuous support of the EU which does not have the political will to incur steep energy price increases.”

In point 22, Hunter instructed Archer to buy a “burner phone,” presumably to keep their conversations private. “Buy a cell phone from a 7/11 or CVS tmrw and ill do the same.”

It’s a prescient and very well-informed email, unlike anything else Hunter wrote in the nine years covered in the laptop, and it has the distinct flavor of an official briefing, perhaps even a classified one.

There’s no hiding Biden’s fright over classified document scandal

An astonishing fifth trove of classified documents was discovered in the president’s Delaware mansion Friday, not by his own lawyers this time, but during a search by the Department of Justice.

nypost.com

 

[bdb13]

I have no idea, but the way the email was written it was different than any other emails that Hunter wrote in the past. It might be from classified documents and it might not, but considering Hunter had access to his dad's office and the garage where the classified documents were found it's fair to question it.

One striking email during this period stands out. It was from Hunter to Archer on April 13, 2014, a week before Joe Biden visited Ukraine to meet then-Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk and refers to “my guys upcoming travels.”

For Hunter, it was an uncharacteristically lengthy email, listing 22 points about Ukraine’s political situation, with detailed information about the upcoming election and predicting an escalation of Russia’s “destabilization campaign, which could lead to a full-scale takeover of the eastern region, most critically Donetsk.

“The strategic value is to create a land bridge for RU to Crimea. That won’t directly affect Burisma holdings but it will limit future UK exploration and utilization of offshore opportunities in particular,” Hunter wrote.

“It will also result in further destabilization of UK nationally and for whatever govt is in power. And the US will respond with even stronger sanctions. Those sanctions will threaten the tenuous support of the EU which does not have the political will to incur steep energy price increases.”

In point 22, Hunter instructed Archer to buy a “burner phone,” presumably to keep their conversations private. “Buy a cell phone from a 7/11 or CVS tmrw and ill do the same.”

It’s a prescient and very well-informed email, unlike anything else Hunter wrote in the nine years covered in the laptop, and it has the distinct flavor of an official briefing, perhaps even a classified one.

There’s no hiding Biden’s fright over classified document scandal

An astonishing fifth trove of classified documents was discovered in the president’s Delaware mansion Friday, not by his own lawyers this time, but during a search by the Department of Justice.

nypost.com

It's certainly fair to ask considering the circumstances and I wouldn't be stunned to find out that there is some sort of "there" there in regards to Hunter Biden (I realize there would be further implications for Joe Biden at that point).

But I would say on its own that email doesn't jump right out at me as clearly having to be from classified information. Not saying it isn't, it just doesn't seem obvious to me to the point where you could firmly reach that conclusion.

 

[MT15]

It's certainly fair to ask considering the circumstances and I wouldn't be stunned to find out that there is some sort of "there" there in regards to Hunter Biden (I realize there would be further implications for Joe Biden at that point).

But I would say on its own that email doesn't jump right out at me as clearly having to be from classified information. Not saying it isn't, it just doesn't seem obvious to me to the point where you could firmly reach that conclusion.

You have to remember that the “laptop” is a collection of files that Rudy, Steve Bannon and Roger Stone had their grubby paws all over. Even before the made up computer repair shop story.

SFL screamed bloody murder about the “dossier” even though every outlet admitted it was of unknown veracity, but he thinks every word found in this collection of files that has been completely compromised can be used as proof positive of nefarious doings. It’s hilarious. And sad.

 

[bdb13]

You have to remember that the “laptop” is a collection of files that Rudy, Steve Bannon and Roger Stone had their grubby paws all over. Even before the made up computer repair shop story.

Yeah, it's still an "alleged" email until we know for sure what's real and what isn't.

 

[MT15]

Yeah, it's still an "alleged" email until we know for sure what's real and what isn't.

I’m not sure how we can ever know that anything is real from that Frankenstein collection of files. There’s no chain of custody and if the origin story I read is true, it’s illegally obtained to boot.

 

[bdb13]

I’m not sure how we can ever know that anything is real from that Frankenstein collection of files. There’s no chain of custody and if the origin story I read is true, it’s illegally obtained to boot.

I wouldn't think it should be very difficult for experts to figure out the veracity of an email like that though.

 

[MT15]

I wouldn't think it should be very difficult for experts to figure out the veracity of an email like that though.

Illegally obtained though? Could it ever be used as evidence?

 

[bdb13]

Illegally obtained though? Could it ever be used as evidence?

Doesn't the FBI have the laptop? Are you saying they're illegally in possession of it?

 

[FullMonte]

I have no idea, but the way the email was written it was different than any other emails that Hunter wrote in the past. It might be from classified documents and it might not, but considering Hunter had access to his dad's office and the garage where the classified documents were found it's fair to question it.

One striking email during this period stands out. It was from Hunter to Archer on April 13, 2014, a week before Joe Biden visited Ukraine to meet then-Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk and refers to “my guys upcoming travels.”

That works if, and only if, the documents that were found in the garage were boxed up there while Biden was still Vice President, and didn't get boxed up with other things from his office and moved there when he was closing up his White House office.

 

[MT15]

Doesn't the FBI have the laptop? Are you saying they're illegally in possession of it?

I don’t know what they have, I don’t believe they’ve said much of anything.

What I read just recently was that the laptop was left at a doctor’s office and the drive was illegally copied before it was returned. And the copy was given directly to the crew of Rudy, Bannon, and Stone who all added material to it at various times. So those files were illegally retrieved from the laptop at the doctor‘s office by somebody. I don’t know if that story is accurate but it supposedly came from Hunter’s lawyer. Maybe the FBI subpoenaed the laptop at some point, I don’t know.

Just think about it. This all happened before the 2020 election, so this was the Trump FBI who supposedly have the laptop and have been investigating this whole mess. But yet no charges, and if this was so clear cut I would think there would have been a grand jury or something. They’ve been investigating Hunter for years and they have come up with some form that wasn’t filled out correctly and possibly some tax issue.

Hunter’s laptop is a cottage propaganda industry from the far right loonies. I don’t believe anything that has been filtered through Bannon, Stone and Rudy.

 

[coldseat]

John Durham would like to have a conversation with you.



I don't really see anything extraordinary about this. The investigation that was currently taking place was more than sufficient. The only reason for Garland to appoint a special council is because he's extraordinarily concerned about not being seen as a partisan. Which he is extremely susceptible to given his extreme reluctance and the amount of time and evidence it took him to appoint one for all of Trump's crime as opposed to how quickly he appointed one for this. There is no reason to appoint a special council right now other than because of the rabid speculation and hyperbolic coverage of the media and the Republicans predictable reaction to it.

Just another example of Democrats fighting with one hand tied behind their back. Much like the Hunter Biden laptop story, this is one I'll be ignoring unless something of actual consequence happens.

This was my reaction to Garland appointing a special council for Biden from the very beginning. It was a stupid move and it's looking even dumber now. Finally it seems like others are catching up to where I've been at from the start.

==================
Attorney General Merrick Garland came into the job determined, above all else, to restore the integrity of the Justice Department. In trying to convince everyone that the department is above reproach, however, he has made a series of unwise, showy moves that leave it looking more, not less, political.

The problem began with Garland’s decision to follow his predecessor’s position that former president Donald Trump was acting in the scope of his presidential duties when he allegedly slandered E. Jean Carroll. Garland compounded the error by appointing a special counsel to investigate President Biden’s possession of classified documents from his years as vice president and U.S. senator.

Garland evidently felt that fairness demanded he treat the Biden case as he treated the investigation of classified documents held by Trump at Mar-a-Lago. The department’s credibility would have been better served if Garland had made tough distinctions between two very different cases.

....

We might soon realize that Biden’s sloppiness is neither “criminal” nor “extraordinary,” and therefore the special counsel statute does not apply.

Improperly retained documents might present political problems for would-be candidates. They might be evidence of a rather cavalier approach to classified material, in which aides pack up their bosses’ files, rather than giving the National Archives and Records Administration the necessary resources to do the job properly. They might suggest that government over-classifies documents.

None of these is a criminal matter warranting a special counsel.

Garland’s failure to draw a clear distinction between Biden and Trump has utterly confused the public. Polling from ABC News-Ipsos shows that in considering Biden’s and Trump’s conduct, “nearly a third of the public (30%) finds the actions of both to be equally serious.” That’s no doubt the result of appointing a special counsel for both, treating entirely different circumstances identically.

Naming a special counsel for officials for whom there is no evidence of criminal intent smears the innocent and gives the potential guilty the excuse that “everyone does it.”
And Garland’s efforts to look fair will likely backfire when the investigation of Biden finds nothing, while the investigation of Trump leads to an indictment.
===============-

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/01/26/special-counsel-garland-mistake-documents/

 

[Optimus Prime]

Washington (CNN) — The National Archives is formally asking former presidents and vice presidents to re-check their personal records for any classified documents or other presidential records in the wake of classified documents discovered in the homes of former President Donald Trump, former Vice President Mike Pence and President Joe Biden over the last year.

The Archives sent a letter Thursday to representatives of former presidents and vice presidents from the last six presidential administrations covered by the Presidential Records Act (PRA) – from former President Ronald Reagan’s White House to the present……

National Archives asks former presidents and vice presidents to check for classified and presidential documents | CNN Politics

The National Archives is formally asking former presidents and vice presidents to re-check their personal records for any classified documents or other presidential records in the wake of classified documents discovered in the homes of former President Donald Trump, former Vice President Mike...

www.cnn.com