MS. found in a garage

I want to add these notes to those I posted early this morning in “The Biden docs, round 2.”

• Attorney General Merrick Garland has appointed Robert Hur as Special Counsel to investigate President Biden’s mishandling of classified documents — what I referred to in my post this morning as “the Biden matter.” Garland’s statement appointing Hur is posted online here. Hur is the former United States Attorney for the District of Maryland. Garland’s statement provides additional details on Hur’s background.

• Garland: “On December 20, President Biden’s personal counsel informed Mr. Lausch that additional documents bearing classification markings were identified in the garage of the President’s private residence in Wilmington, Delaware. President Biden’s counsel informed Mr. Lausch that those documents were among other records from the period of the President’s service as Vice President. The FBI went to the location and secured those documents.”

• Biden keeps his beloved Corvette in the garage. He asserted in response to Peter Doocy today that the garage is locked (“it’s not like they’re sittin’ out in the street”), but it is opened whenever he takes it for a spin, it is not secure, and it can be entered by anyone with access to the house. As Prince puts it in “Little Red Corvette” — “I felt a little ill when I saw all the pictures / Of the jockeys that were there before me.” Think Hunter Biden.

• Every news story that reported on the first cache of classified documents retrieved from a closet in the Penn Biden Center distinguished the Biden matter from the Trump matter. I think the documents locked up in storage at Mar-a-Lago may have been kept in an area more secure than Biden’s garage.

• Garland: “On January 5, 2023, [United States Attorney John] Lausch briefed me on the results of his initial investigation and advised me that further investigation by a Special Counsel was warranted. Based on Mr. Lausch’s initial investigation, I concluded that, under the Special Counsel regulations, it was in the public interest to appoint a Special Counsel. In the days since, while Mr. Lausch continued the investigation, the Department identified Mr. Hur for appointment as Special Counsel.”

• Garland: “This morning, President Biden’s personal counsel called Mr. Lausch and stated that an additional document bearing classification markings was identified at the President’s personal residence in Wilmington, Delaware.” That makes for three sets of classified documents, or documents with “classified markings.”

• Everyone involved has kept mum on the Biden matter long after public disclosure should have occurred.

• It appears that the White House has no intention of making public the list visitors to the Biden residences during the relevant period of time.

• At the White House press conference today, KJP stated and reiterated ad nauseam that the Biden matter had been handled “by the book.” I don’t think anyone asked for a copy of the book. I’d certainly like to see it.

• Biden assures that that he takes classified documents seriously. I doubt it. Indeed, the facts disclosed so far tend to undercut that assurance.

• Biden will say anything that suits his purposes. That is the principle operative here.

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