White House Counsel’s office goes full Monty Python, issues statements to clarify previous statements

Watching the White House Counsel’s Office attempt to spin the discovery of classified materials by President Biden’s personal attorneys is a dizzying affair. Richard Sauber, Special Counsel to the President, continues to release statements via the White House spokesman for oversight and investigations, Ian Sams, only to issue additional statements to clarify the previous ones.

The White House’s dilemma is clear.

Following the FBI’s raid on former President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate, Biden, to paraphrase Shakespeare, protested just a bit too much.

“How that could possibly happen?” he stated when asked for his reaction to photos of the classified documents spread out on the floor. “How anyone can be that irresponsible? And I thought, ‘What data is in there that may compromise sources and methods?'”

“Totally irresponsible,” he repeated.


(Video: YouTube)

So, when classified documents were unearthed by lawyers in Biden’s Penn Biden Center office, the White House PR machine was forced to ramp up quickly for its greatest spin session to date.

On January 9, Sams released a statement from Sauber, assuring Americans that “The White House is cooperating with the National Archives and the Department of Justice regarding the discovery of what appear to be Obama-Biden Administration records, including a small number of documents with classified markings.”

Sauber admitted that the documents were discovered on November 2, just before the crucial midterm elections, and that the “discovery of these documents was made by the President’s attorneys.”

“The documents were not the subject of any previous request or inquiry by the Archives,” he said. “Since that discovery, the President’s personal attorneys have cooperated with the Archives and the Department of Justice in a process to ensure that any Obama-Biden Administration records are appropriately in the possession of the Archives.”

Of course, as Vice President, Biden had no authority to declassify anything, unlike former President Trump, and many wondered when the FBI would be raiding Biden’s home.

The compliant media went into overdrive to explain why this was totally different than Trump’s alleged mishandling of classified material.

But then more documents were found, this time in Biden’s garage.

That forced another statement, reinforcing the fact that Biden “takes classified information and materials seriously” and, unlike that bad Orange man, he has “cooperated from the moment we informed the Archives that a small number of documents were found.”

“We are confident that a thorough review will show that these documents were inadvertently misplaced, and the President and his lawyers acted promptly upon discovery of this mistake.”

A second Thursday statement revealed that “the President’s lawyers have searched the President’s Wilmington and Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, residences.”

“The lawyers completed that review last night,” Sauber said.

But that explanation only opened the door to more scrutiny.

Biden’s lawyers don’t have the necessary clearance to review classified documents, and allowing them to search for damning evidence against their powerful boss sparked comparisons to Hillary Clinton and her “yoga” emails.

Can’t have that, so another statement to clarify the previous statement was quickly penned.

In this version of the events, the “personal attorneys” didn’t so much as glance at anything “with a classified marking.”

They “stopped and did not review it, and suspended any further search in that box, file or other specific space where the document was found as appropriate,” Sauber said, before placing himself at the scene.

“Because I have a security clearance, I went to Wilmington Thursday evening to facilitate providing the document the President’s personal counsel found on Wednesday to the just Department,” he continued. “While I was transferring it to the DOJ officials who accompanied me, five additional pages with classification markings were discovered among the material with it, for a total of six pages. The DOJ officials with me immediately took possession of them.”

For fans of Monty Python, the statements read much like the credits to “The Holy Grail,” in which “The directors of the firm hired to continue the credits after the other people had been sacked, wish it to be known that they have just been sacked.”


(Video: YouTube)

Twitter isn’t buying it.

“There are different levels of clearance. Just bc one has a clearance doesn’t mean they can view or handle all levels of clearance,” said one user. “Clearly, protocol was abandoned.”

“Haha,” remarked another. “When you get caught red-handed and have to change your story it isn’t ‘clarifying a previous statement.'”

“Democrats and the media literally want to give Biden credit for his attorneys discovering he repeatedly broke the law,” noted a third.

And, according to a fourth, it’s, “Time for a raid.”

Melissa Fine

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