AG Garland Claims No Double Standard of Justice in Biden Classified Docs Case
Attorney General Merrick Garland said Monday that his agency hasn’t used a double standard when investigating President Joe Biden’s classified case.
Some Republicans and former President Donald Trump claim that the Department of Justice treated Biden less harshly than the former commander in chief, whose home was raided August by FBI agents. The Justice Department stated that the agents discovered classified materials.
“We do not have different rules for Democrats or Republicans, different rules for the powerful or the powerless, different rules for the rich and for the poor, we apply the facts, and the law in each case in a neutral, non-partisan manner,” Garland told Reporters during Monday’s roundtable. “That is what we always do.”
When asked if he has any regrets regarding how the agency handled the two cases, Garland said that the DOJ should make decisions “in a nonpartisan and neutral way without regard to who the subjects are.” He said, “That is what we’ve done in each of these cases. And that is what we’ll continue to do.”
Late last week, FBI agents discovered more classified documents at Biden’s home in Wilmington, Delaware, according to a DOJ prosecutor and the president’s personal lawyer. That discovery was the fourth time since November that classified documents were found in Biden’s possession, although his lawyers did not reveal their existence until earlier this month.
Joseph D. Fitzpatrick was the assistant U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Illinois. He spoke to news outlets this weekend: “I can confirm that the FBI on Friday executed a planned, consensual search of the President’s residence in Wilmington, Delaware.”
Some of the documents and other materials were dated from Biden’s time when he was a senator representing Delaware from 1973 until 2009, said his lawyer, Bob Bauer, in a statement To news outlets. He said that other materials were also available from his time as vice president in 2009 to 2017.
Bauer stated that he consented to FBI agents searching his house “the entire premises for potential vice-presidential records and potential classified material.” Biden and his wife, Jill, weren’t there, he added.
“DOJ took possession of materials it deemed within the scope of its inquiry, including six items consisting of documents with classification markings and surrounding materials, some of which were from the President’s service in the Senate and some of which were from his tenure as Vice President,” Bauer said, adding federal agents “also took for further review personally handwritten notes from the vice-presidential years.”
A number of congress Democrats are now more concerned with the White House handling of this case. They also want an independent investigation. The House has been sending daily letters to various federal agencies seeking information and records.
James Comer, the new House Oversight Chairman (R-Ky.), sent (pdf) a letter on Monday asking Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle for all internal documents, communications, and other materials relating to Biden’s Delaware home.
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), speaking on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” The outlet was informed by the president “should have a lot of regrets” How he dealt with classified documents. “Whoever’s responsible — I mean, if I hold people accountable—whether it be my chief of staff or, you know, my staff that were doing this and I’m looking at — then I’m going to hold someone accountable, but basically, the buck stops with me,” Manchin stated.
Biden, however, stated late last week that he believes he did not do anything wrong.
“I think you’re gonna find there’s nothing there,” Biden made these remarks while assessing flood damage in California. “I have no regrets. I’m following what the lawyers have told me they want me to do. It’s exactly what we’re doing. There’s no there there.”
“I will answer the question but here’s the deal. You know, what quite frankly bugs me is that we have a serious problem here we’re talking about, we’re talking about what’s going on. And the American people don’t quite understand why you don’t ask me questions about that,” He stated.
Garland had earlier this month announced that he had Robert Hur as his special counsel to deal with the Biden classified documents case.
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