On Monday, news broke that a personal attorney for President Biden found classified documents while closing out the office in Washington, D.C. he used while affiliated with the University of Pennsylvania after leaving the Vice-Presidency and before he launched his presidential campaign.
There were 10 classified documents found dated between 2013 and 2016 concerning the U.K., Ukraine and Iran. It is unclear how many are top secret.
The attorney in question promptly contacted the National Archives and Records Administration which collected the document and notified the Office of Attorney General Merrick Garland who referred the matter to U.S. Attorney John Lausch, Jr., who is a holdover from the Trump Administration. Lausch has submitted preliminary findings to Garland who must determine if there is any further investigation.
The fact that Biden's attorney promptly disclosed the discovery of classified documents (unlike Trump) won't matter one iota to Republicans whether or not Garland pursues the matter further (but especially if he doesn't), I believe Republicans will probably try to impeach Biden over this matter. As long as House Speaker Marjorie Taylor Greene, er, Kevin McCarthy is in charge impeachment proceedings are guaranteed. Greene has long clamored for Biden's impeachment and did so again only hours before the news broke.
There are certainly reasonable questions as to how these classified documents ended up in Biden's private office. But we're not dealing with reasonable people here. We're dealing with Republicans who believe in every conspiracy theory under the sun. Given that some of the documents concern Ukraine there will certainly be an effort to tie this to Hunter Biden's business activities in that country. Then there is also the fact the discovery took place on November 2nd - six days before the midterm elections. Republicans will demand to know why the story wasn't made public immediately especially in view of the fact they didn't get their red wave.
Should Republicans pursue impeachment against Biden, then they risk doing harm to themselves. After all, defeated, former President Trump practically had top secret documents wall papered at Mar-a-Lago. When Trump was under the microscope Republicans like Congressman Ronny Jackson claimed the FBI or DOJ planted the evidence. Another Republican Congressman Mike Turner said Trump was only keeping classified documents at Mar-a-Lago so he could write a memoir. Trump himself made the claim the classified documents were his personal property and that he could declassify documents by way of telepathy. Needless to say, Republicans won't give Biden any of that dispensation. As such, a lot of voters will view any impeachment proceedings against Biden by Republicans with great skepticism and suspicion.
On the other hand, Biden has not publicly announced if he will seek re-election next year. Should this matter persist throughout 2023 then Democrats are bound to become vocal about him not running.
Yet let's keep in mind that if the Republican Congress doesn't try to impeach Biden over classified documents, then they try to impeach him on something else. They have nothing else to offer the country.
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