"They're trying to put lipstick on a pig," one Democrat close to the White House said Friday. "The problem is this week they got handed 50 pigs and one stick of lipstick."

YankeeTarheel wrote: Sun Jan 15, 2023 8:52 am
But ReThugs never care about such shit. Colin Powell, Ivanka&Jared all used personal eMails just like Hillary but with the Rethugs it's always "My team good, your team bad" with never a thought to fairness or justice. Is it any wonder they elected Trump, MTG, Gohmert, Gosar, etc, and aren't saying a WORD about Santos who is impossibly an even BIGGER liar than TOS?

The White House strategy to manage the special counsel investigation into President Joe Biden’s handling of classified documents has taken shape.

Pledge full cooperation.

Attack House Republicans.

Don’t engage on the details of an ongoing matter.

Most of all, maintain the meticulously planned strategic road map on which Biden planned to act this month long before all but a small handful of White House officials were even aware the handling of classified documents was a problem for anyone other than his predecessor. After a week defined by uneven and incomplete responses, the White House has settled into that strategy, which officials insist they can maintain for the duration of a special counsel investigation. They acknowledge their plan comes with the reality of a timeline they can’t control, tied to an investigation with an uncertain pathway that may last well into the year ahead. Still White House officials believe that pushing ahead with their regularly scheduled programming is the best way for them to move through this latest rough patch.

highdesert wrote: Wed Jan 18, 2023 5:45 pm SNIP..............................................
The damage has already been done, the documents were discovered on Nov 2nd before the Nov 8th midterm election and on Jan 9th the media breaks the story. That's what House Republicans will focus on.
https://apnews.com/article/biden-politi ... f170dc67d2

FBI investigators on Friday found additional classified material while conducting a search of President Joe Biden’s Wilmington, Delaware, home. Bob Bauer, the president’s personal attorney, said in a statement that during the search, which took place over nearly 13 hours Friday, “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. DOJ also took for further review personally handwritten notes from the vice-presidential years.” Those six items are in addition to materials previously found at Biden’s Wilmington residence and in his private office.

The federal search of BIden’s home, while voluntary, marks an escalation of the probe into the president’s handling of classified documents and will inevitably draw comparisons to his predecessor, former President Donald Trump – even if the FBI’s search of Trump’s residence was conducted under different circumstances.

The FBI search was done with the consent of the president’s attorneys, people briefed on the matter said. The FBI also previously picked up documents found at the residence, which the Biden team disclosed last week.

The search did not require a search warrant or subpoena, according to a person familiar with the matter. Bauer said that representatives of Biden’s personal legal team and the White House Counsel’s Office were present during the “thorough search,” during which they had “full access” to the Biden home. Bauer added that the DOJ “requested that the search not be made public in advance, in accordance with its standard procedures, and we agreed to cooperate.”

The National Archives sent a letter to representatives of living former presidents and vice presidents Thursday asking them to review their personal records to verify that no classified materials are outstanding, according to a person familiar with the correspondence who spoke on the condition of anonymity to detail private conversations. The list of those contacted probably includes former presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, and former vice presidents Dick Cheney, Al Gore and Dan Quayle.

The Washington Post reported earlier this week that the Archives was weighing such a request. The request comes after a limited number of records bearing classified markings were found in recent weeks at President Biden’s home and a think tank bearing his name, as well as at the home of former vice president Mike Pence.

Former president Jimmy Carter is exempt from the Presidential Records Act because it covers records created or received after Jan. 20, 1981, after Carter left office.

An adviser to Obama’s office, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the record, told The Post on Tuesday that all classified records from Obama’s time in the White House had been submitted to the National Archives upon his leaving office and that the agency continues to assume physical and legal custody of Obama’s materials.

Cotton vows to block Biden nominees over classified documents flap

Tom Cotton says he will slow down confirmation of all of President Joe Biden’s nominees until Congress is allowed to review the classified documents found at the residences of Biden and former President Donald Trump.

The Arkansas Republican senator emerged Wednesday from a classified briefing with Biden officials, including Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines, and accused the administration of “stonewalling” Congress. In response, Cotton said senators will “impose pain on the administration until they provide these documents. And that is coming from both parties.”

“I’m prepared to refuse consent or to fast-track any nominee for any department or agency. And take every step I can on every committee on which I serve to impose consequences on the administration until they provide these documents for the Congress to make our own informed judgment about the risk to national security,” Cotton said.