George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley warned that President Joe Biden could very well have set a trap for himself when he claimed he had not known about the classified documents that have now been found in several places.
Classified documents — which date back to Biden’s tenure as vice president — have so far been uncovered in Biden’s office at the Penn Biden Center (a think tank in Washington, D.C.), in his Wilmington home, and in his garage. And according to Turley, the fact that the documents were discovered in multiple locations makes Biden’s claim — that he only left the White House with them because they were “inadvertently misplaced” — far less plausible.
“The ‘inadvertent’ defense has its dangers. If Biden worked off any of these documents for his book (which dealt with some of the underlying subjects), the inadvertent defense is not only shattered but could be viewed as an effort to deceive the public,” Turley tweeted, sharing an op-ed he had written on the subject, which was published by Fox News.
…In the meantime, we may soon, however, see an extraordinary historical development where both leading candidates for the presidency will be campaigning with their own assigned special counsels. https://t.co/eqIU9Pn3DL
— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) January 12, 2023
He also noted the historic situation that could be fast approaching: a 2024 presidential race in which one candidate from each major political party was still being investigated by an assigned special counsel.
In the article Turley shared, he pointed out the fact that despite the similarities of their alleged infractions, many were clearly willing to give Biden the benefit of the doubt — or give him a pass entirely — for the same alleged crime that had them ready to throw the book at former President Donald Trump.
“One is criminal (Trump). And one is not criminal (Biden). Say it in plain English,” Lawrence Tribe said of the two.
But Turley went on to explain just how problematic the “inadvertently misplaced” excuse might be, especially given the fact that the documents have been found in multiple locations.
“It seems that these documents were likely moved more than once. Biden left office as vice president in 2017. He presumably took these documents at that time. However, they ended up in different places, including one document found separately from the ‘garage files’ in the residence,” Turley explained.
In addition, the Penn Biden Center did not open its doors until February of 2018 — more than a year after Biden vacated the White House — meaning that the documents were in one location after Biden left the White House and had to be moved at least once before they were discovered in his office there.
“At some point, some documents were sent to the office and some to the residence and garage. What explained this division if it was not based on what the then vice president was working on?” Turley continued. “The ‘inadvertent’ defense hardly fits neatly with these facts. Moreover, if Biden worked off any of these documents for his book (which dealt with some of the underlying subjects like Ukraine), the inadvertent defense is not only shattered but could be cited later as an effort to deceive the public.”
