Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., summed things up well Sunday while discussing President Joe Biden’s “unacceptable” mishandling of classified documents during an appearance on CNN, agreeing that the Biden White House has lost the “high ground” when it comes to targeting former President Donald Trump on the issue.
Turns out, more than six in ten Americans agree with Durbin that Biden handled classified information “inappropriately,” according to an ABC News/Ipsos survey taken January 20 and 21 — the survey found that 64 percent of U.S. adults denounce the president’s actions.
On Friday, Jan. 20, the FBI found more classified documents at Biden’s Delaware home after reaching an agreement with the president’s lawyers to search the residence — no early morning raid for Democrats, and no FBI-orchestrated photo-ops of classified documents strewn about the floor.
The "Top Secret" Mar-a-Lago documents were so secret and Earth-shatteringly important that the FBI agents dumped them on the floor and took pictures of them for their Blue Anon friends in the media. pic.twitter.com/VD8XFB9fEA
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) August 31, 2022
There seems to be a play on words over what was found during the 13-hour search, as seen by Biden’s personal attorney Bob Bauer, who said in a statement that the Justice Department “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.”
This was widely reported as “six documents,” but Bauer clearly said “six items consisting of documents with classification markings and surrounding materials” – items being the key word. Is this a reference to folders? Files? Boxes?
Naturally, the new poll included a comparison to Trump’s handling of classified information — the difference being that as president, he was authorized to declassify information, while Biden was not as vice president, which is when most of the documents in his possession were believed to have been removed.
More ABC News:
Over three-quarters of the public, 77%, feel that Trump acted inappropriately in the way he handled classified files, while 64%, say the same of Biden. Condemnation expectedly aligns along party lines, with 96% of Democrats saying that Trump’s handling of classified documents was not appropriate compared to 47% of Republicans.
More than eight in 10 independents (83%), believe that Trump’s behavior was inappropriate, per the ABC News/Ipsos poll conducted using Ipsos’ KnowledgePanel.
While the political gamesmanship plays out, with the media screaming about how Trump threatened to collapse “our democracy” while Biden simply committed an inadvertent mistake, one thing is clear, the policies governing the handling of classified information are in serious need of being revamped.
Here’s a quick sampling of responses to the story from Twitter:
I am sitting here wondering how many Congress, senate and other’s have unknowingly walked out with documents and how the hell that happens? What are the procedures, why do they evidently not work. Was it an honor system? I mean come on…
— Kiara (@Azula163) January 22, 2023
I completely agree. Classified is classified, leave it at the office or stay on site with it. One should have learned from the others mistakes by now, come on.
— Jessica Vasquez (@JesikaBVasquez) January 23, 2023
White House needs to implement new protocols on any document leaving the premises. And then a group for retrieving those documents after a set amount of days.
— Brady (@Thebradyeffect) January 22, 2023
It proves that politicians should not be trusted with classified info. These documents need to be maintained by custodian of these records in the White House where they are accounted for and their return to a secure storage facility is required. These doc’s need to be acct. for
— Investr51 (@investr51) January 22, 2023
The staff for both are mostly responsible. There should be more finger-pointing at the people that are supposed to keep those documents secure. The whereabouts of classified documents should be known at all times. The fact that they didn’t even know they were missing is alarming.
— Franklin Thompson (@Logan47) January 22, 2023
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Tom Tillison grew up in Maryland before moving to Central Florida as a young teen. It is in the Sunshine State that he honed both his passion for politics and his writing skills. Tillison also contributes to BizPac Review.
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