We want to know the visitor logs to the residence. We want to know who had access to the Biden Center for Diplomacy...this is the same type of investigation that the Democrats...launched and demanded happened to President Trump... And we just want equal treatment here with respect to how both former President Trump and current President Biden are being treated with the document issue.
Comer and others, from both sides of the aisle, are concerned by the lack of transparency -and hypocrisy from the administration. Before the election, Biden talked about Trump mishandling documents, apparently knowing he had done the same thing.
So, the hypocrisy here is great. We're very concerned about a lack of transparency. We're very concerned, as I have said many times, about a two-tiered system of justice in America. And we just want equal treatment.
Comer apparently considers any statements from the administration are nothing but a bunch of malarkey.
... It seems political here. It seems hypocritical. It seems like a double standard. And that's our concern... We have asked questions about what went on with Mar-a-Lago. Why was Mar-a-Lago raided, but the president's home not? Why are the president's lawyers still allowed to go rummage through, looking for documents, after a special counsel has been appointed? It doesn't make sense. It's not fair. We just want equal treatment.
Tapper reminded Comer of some key differences between Trump's document-gate and what we know, so far, about Biden's document-gate: the difference in volume, the subpoena, the lawyers saying everything had been turned in when it hadn't been. And then he rolled tape of Comer from last November, talking about the Trump situation.
I don't know much about that. That's not something that -- we have requested information just to see what was going on, because I don't know what documents were at Mar-a-Lago. So, that's something we're just waiting to see what comes out on that. QUESTION: But is it fair to say that investigation won't be a priority? COMER: That will not be a priority.
His response to the question, "Do you only care about classified documents being mishandled when Democrats do the mishandling?"
Absolutely not. Look, we still don't know what type of documents President Trump had. That's one of the questions we have asked the National Archives. Just because Joe Biden's lawyer said they turned over five documents doesn't mean they just turned over five documents. They could have turned over 500 documents. I'm sorry, but I don't have a lot of confidence in President Biden's personal lawyers...
He also apparently hasn't seen a single news report, or any of the excuses widely publicized by the right, or even had a conversation with a colleague since the Mar-a-Lago raid. And that's good, because he doesn't give a rat about mishandled documents.
My concern is how there's such a discrepancy in how former President Trump was treated... vs. Joe Biden... That's not equal treatment. And we're very concerned. And there's a lack of trust here at the Department of Justice by House Republicans. That's the outrage.
There's all kinds of outrage, here, to be sure.
For his part, Raskin handled the interview very much like Comer did: all talking points, and not a whole lot of answers. He did echo Comer, saying that we all have
an interest in seeing that classified documents are properly handled by whoever's president and by any administration. And all we're looking for is equal treatment.
He expressed delight at Biden's lawyers, "the moment they found out about the documents," turning them over to the National Archives, "and ultimately to the Department of Justice," something the Trump administration didn't do, as everyone knows.
So that's just a completely different posture. So, when my friend Mr. Comer says, we're just looking for equal treatment, that's all we're looking for. I think it's good that this is in the hands of special counsels on both sides. And the special counsels are both trustworthy lawyers who I think will get to the bottom of it.
He didn't answer Tapper's question on why Biden's personal lawyers - with no security clearance - were searching in DC and Delaware for records, instead of the FBI or DOJ handling that. His understanding is that Biden's folks did the right thing. As to what the official procedure is, but he doesn't want this "turned into just a political football."
And it's a bit disturbing to me that people who are saying there was no problem with what Donald Trump did, which was to defiantly reject any cooperation in turning over hundreds of classified documents, are upset about President Biden's voluntary and rapid turnover of a handful of documents that they found.
Another one he didn't really answer? "By Biden's own standard, wasn't Biden totally irresponsible with classified info?" And, again, using Biden's own words, shouldn't we wonder "what data was in there that may compromise sources and methods?" Raskin said that's why there's a special counsel; Garland did the right thing on that. He also said there needs to be "a sense of symmetry about our analysis of these situations and a sense of proportion about the underlying offenses."
In a nutshell: they don't know for sure what the right procedure is when documents are found, but what Trump did was wrong, their investigation might uncover the specific procedure to be followed, and he's satisfied that Biden's team did the right thing.
Transparency does matter sometimes, though. One of the deals to secure McCarthy the speakership, according to Florida Man Matt Gaetz, is that McCarthy would release "all of the Capitol security footage from January 6th." Tapper wondered what Raskin, a member of the January 6th Committee, thought of that.
...I think Chairman Comer just restated this himself -- what we're interested in is transparency. And American needs absolute transparency to everything that Speaker McCarthy gave away to that rampaging right-wing faction from the Freedom Caucus on his way to assembling finally a majority after all of those ballots...
But what about the footage, Tapper asked? Raskin isn't sure what was promised, but said his interest "has always been" in turning everything over, within the confines of any applicable legal requirements. The people have the right to know, he said, and if they want to redo the January 6th investigation,
...more power to them, because all roads lead to the exact same place. Donald Trump refused to accept no for an answer from the American people and tried to overthrow the 2020 election. If they think that Antifa was really behind it and not Donald Trump, then they can have at it. And we would love to be part of such an investigation.
I was frustrated, of course, but not surprised at how well both of them toed the party line. And, I'm not at all confident that we'll see anything other than politically motivated attacks for the next couple of years out of this Committee. Chime in - let me know if you think there's a chance we'll get anything out of this gang?
See you around campus.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thanks for sharing your thoughts!