Ooops! Stay Classi-fied.

[Lester The Nightfly]

I thought everybody here hated "what-about-ism." Especially Lester who routinely calls out people for engaging in what-about-ism, and then the first words out of his mouth were that Trump took 30 times more documents than did Biden.

What does Trump's classified document woes have to do with Biden's? Are they connected somehow? These seem like two totally different stories to me.

You might consider offering your weak sauce sermonette explicitly to Trump as well as the GOP as a whole considering the volume of counteraccusations vilifying Biden and defending Trump over what is fundamentally the same transgression. At least Biden won't be charged with not immediately surrendering the documents.

[bmw]

You might consider offering your weak sauce sermonette explicitly to Trump as well as the GOP as a whole...

Defending against being called out for what-about-ism with more what-about-ism.

This particular story has nothing to do with Trump or the GOP. Not sure why you insist on making it about Trump. Oh wait, I know exactly why...

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You might consider offering your weak sauce sermonette explicitly to Trump as well as the GOP as a whole...

Defending against being called out for what-about-ism with more what-about-ism.

This particular story has nothing to do with Trump or the GOP. Not sure why you insist on making it about Trump. Oh wait, I know exactly why...

Because the two stories may be similar but provide an opportunity to compare and contrast the actions of back to back presidents over similar subject material.

[bmw]

And I actually think that is fine. My point is that every time somebody on the right invokes a name like Hillary Clinton in comparing behaviors, the immediate scream from the left is WHAT ABOUT ISM!

[FakeAndyStuart]

Horrible politics for the Biden team. But they've already kinda proven they aren't that good at 21st Century politics without the occasional Hail Mary (see Clyburn, Jim). But a great opportunity to show how you do it when you find stuff you shouldn't have - call the po po right away and fess up. Fox News a-holes can scream all they want, but it's not the same story.

[Mega Hertz]

It's not a "scream" so much as it is an eye roll.

"Yes, your honor, I killed my wife. I stabbed her to death. But I ask, your honor, what about O.J. Simpson?"

"Officer, I know I was doing 86 in a 55, but what about the guy in the blue Charger? He was doing 76."

My attitude is, if one does it, it doesn't make it okay for anyone else. If they did it, cook their ass. Biden did it? Fry him. Trump did it? Fry him.

But in the real world, when I get caught fucking the babysitter, "Oh, but BILL CLINTON" isn't gonna make it any better.

[bmw]

So I go back to my original question - why are we just finding out about this now? Since we've all decided it is fair to compare to Trump, another comparison would be this: If classified documents had been found in 2018 and turned over to the National Archives days before the 2018 midterm elections, does anybody here believe that said information wouldn't have been made public IMMEDIATELY? Does anybody here know what the cause of the delay actually was?

[FakeAndyStuart]

So I go back to my original question - why are we just finding out about this now? Since we've all decided it is fair to compare to Trump, another comparison would be this: If classified documents had been found in 2018 and turned over to the National Archives days before the 2018 midterm elections, does anybody here believe that said information wouldn't have been made public IMMEDIATELY? Does anybody here know what the cause of the delay actually was?

It's the delay that happens when proper procedure is carried out.. as in the discovery in May 2021 of the Trump documents, which was first reported by the news media in August.

Sorry, you lose this one.

[Lester The Nightfly]

Since they have a limited amount of thought processing available does this mean the GOP will turn their attention away from Hunter Biden's dick?

[Bryce]

Because the two stories may be similar but provide an opportunity to compare and contrast the actions of back to back presidents over similar subject material.

Oh contraire! One was a President at the time the documents were removed. The other was a Vice President. No comparison or contrast. A Vice President does not have the ability to declassify documents.

[Rate This]

Because the two stories may be similar but provide an opportunity to compare and contrast the actions of back to back presidents over similar subject material.

Oh contraire! One was a President at the time the documents were removed. The other was a Vice President. No comparison or contrast. A Vice President does not have the ability to declassify documents.

Neither does a president at the wave of a hand. There is a PROCESS.

[Lester The Nightfly]

Because the two stories may be similar but provide an opportunity to compare and contrast the actions of back to back presidents over similar subject material.

Oh contraire! One was a President at the time the documents were removed. The other was a Vice President. No comparison or contrast. A Vice President does not have the ability to declassify documents.

This is the key point so many Trump supporters fail to acknowledge. Unless the documents had been legally declassified (which entails more than just claiming a Judi Mind Trick) they remain classified.

Trump had the authority to declassify but failed to lawfully do so, thus any in his possession would be illegal. The courts have said as much. As you correctly note, Biden never had the authority to legally declassify, so he too was illegally in possession of classified documents. For all practical purposes they are both guilty of the same crime but for different reasons.

The lovely part of this is presumably Biden, as the current President, could declassify the documents found "in his possession" provided he legally did so. He could start the process tomorrow morning if he were so inclined. As of 12:01 January 20th Trump no longer legally had that option available to him. Folks would lose their shit if Biden played his hand like that but it's essentially the same mechanism Trump attempted to use by claiming he has agency past, present and future but he fucked up by not doing so when he had the Presidential authority to. Biden has no such restrictions.

[bmw]

So I go back to my original question - why are we just finding out about this now? Since we've all decided it is fair to compare to Trump, another comparison would be this: If classified documents had been found in 2018 and turned over to the National Archives days before the 2018 midterm elections, does anybody here believe that said information wouldn't have been made public IMMEDIATELY? Does anybody here know what the cause of the delay actually was?

It's the delay that happens when proper procedure is carried out.. as in the discovery in May 2021 of the Trump documents, which was first reported by the news media in August.

Sorry, you lose this one.

Well, there was a second batch of classified documents found. This time at an unspecified location.

But these were reported to the public immediately. Which "procedure" were you referring to that required a 2 month delay?

[km1125]

Makes you wonder what the "chain of custody" was in ALL THOSE YEARS since those classified documents left a secure location (which should have been some subset of the WH). They could have been unsecured for as long as 14 years, right?

Are they just done with them now, and just want to "clean up the loose ends"??

[TC Talks]

Does anyone think that Justice performed an audit on everything after discovering that Trump was getting ready to leverage his documents?

Or Biden knows that the new house committee will be coming after him, so he got out ahead of the issue. Either way, is what he has considered important?

Biden wasn't actively seeking to trade government secrets for political favors like Trump was. This was how Trump's documents ended up in the radar of the FBI. This is also why the Trumptards are so ready to go after government agencies for victimizing their king.