(RepublicanNews.org) – As the number of classified documents found in the homes of former presidents and vice presidents mounts, is it time to investigate past White House incumbents more thoroughly?
Missouri Republican Senator Josh Hawley thinks it might be.
Responding to a question about the mounting pile of documents, Hawley said “maybe” it’s time to ask questions of former President Barack Obama and George W. Bush. He clarified, however, that he is not suggesting opening formal investigations into the two former chief executives.
Last year, the FBI raided former President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home to retrieve classified papers despite the fact that Trump cooperated with the federal investigation into his document handling.
Current President Joe Biden’s treatment has been much more ginger and deferential. Instead of FBI agents breaking into his homes, Biden’s own White House lawyers have searched his think tank in D.C. and his two private Delaware homes.
Trump is facing a criminal investigation. Attorney General Merrick Garland, appointed by Biden, has announced a “special counsel” investigation into Biden’s document handling.
White House Counsel lawyers found documents marked “classified” at Biden’s home garage in Wilmington, where he keeps a classic Corvette. They found more at the Biden-Penn Center in Washington.
Mike Pence, formerly Vice President with Donald Trump, recently turned over to the National Archives classified documents he said he found at his Indiana home.
Answering reporters’ questions on January 25 at a White House briefing, National Security Council strategic communications coordinator John Kirby said, “everybody knows the rules” about secret documents.
They may not be removed from a secure facility, Kirby said. Those who “inadvertently” do so should “self-report,” he continued, saying that’s what President Biden had done.
Hawley said the disparate treatment of Biden and Trump appears politically motivated. Trump was the only official who experienced an FBI Raid, Hawley noted, and that’s because Trump was “a political opponent.”
Former US Attorney Robert Hur was appointed by the Attorney General earlier in January to lead the Biden investigation.
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