Re: Biden's 'irresponsible' handling of classified docs bigger 'leakage' risk than Trump's, experts say

[Joe Irwin]

In article <tp6ri8$hbp$1...@panix3.panix.com>
Democrat asshole <rudy...@gmx.nut> wrote:
>
> The FBI is beyond hope. The entire organization should be stood up against a wall and executed.
>

Security experts are sounding off about President Biden's
handling of classified materials, suggesting that the documents
could have been more susceptible to leaks than those found in
former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate last year.

Under scrutiny from Republicans, Attorney General Merrick
Garland appointed a special counsel Thursday to investigate the
classified materials, which Biden claims were "inadvertently
misplaced."

The Justice Department escalated it to a special counsel
investigation from a mere review after a second stash of
classified documents was found inside the garage of Biden's
Wilmington, Delaware, home. The first documents were found
inside the Washington, D.C., offices of the Penn Biden Center
think tank. Garland tapped Robert Hur, a former U.S. attorney,
to handle the investigation.

Charles Marino, the CEO of Sentinel Security and a former
Homeland Security Department advisor who specializes in law
enforcement, told Fox News Digital that Biden's handling of the
documents, compared to Trump's, could have resulted in greater
potential for "leakage."

WHO HAD ACCESS TO BIDEN CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS? REPUBLICAN DEMANDS
WHITE HOUSE RELEASE DELAWARE VISITOR LOGS

"The storage of classified documents was not authorized at any
of these locations, however there are several distinctions with
respect to the potential ‘leakage’ of the information contained
within the documents via controls that would have likely
prevented or limited unauthorized access to the locations,"
Marino said.

Noting that Trump "had the power to declassify whereas Joe Biden
as vice president did not," Marino suggested that Trump's
additional Secret Service protection granted the documents
slightly more protection.

"Former Presidents continue to receive Secret Service protection
and deploy security technologies, whereas former Vice Presidents
do not, beyond an initial six-month extension. This means there
was no US government provided security at the residence in
Wilmington, Delaware, or at the Biden-UPenn think tank office in
Washington, D.C. for close to six years," he said.

"Former Presidents are eligible to continue to receive both
secure communications and facilities. For example, former
Presidents are eligible to request continuation of receiving the
classified presidential daily briefings. Former Vice Presidents
are not."

Biden's claim that he was unaware he possessed classified
materials, according to Marino, also a former Secret Service
special agent, adds to concern over how closely the documents at
both locations were protected.

"Not knowing that one is in possession of classified documents,
as Biden has claimed, means that there were absolutely no
additional measures to safeguard and protect the information,"
he said. "Former President Trump acknowledged such possession,
took steps to secure them in one location (although still not in
accordance with storage requirements for classified info), and
is still granted additional security resources for deterrence
and detection."

DEMOCRATS SCRAMBLE TO DEFEND BIDEN'S HANDLING OF CLASSIFIED
MATERIALS, POINT FINGERS AT TRUMP

Special counsel to the president Richard Sauber disclosed in a
statement Saturday that five additional pages of documents with
classified markings were found at Biden's Delaware home Thursday
evening, making a total of six classified documents retrieved
from the house — in addition to the documents discovered in the
garage.

Sauber explained that when Biden's personal attorneys identified
one classified document at Biden's home on Wednesday, they
stopped searching for additional documents, because they lacked
the security clearances necessary to view those materials.

The first batch of classified documents in Biden's possession
was found at the Penn Biden Center on Nov. 2, just before the
2022 midterm elections, and not revealed until Monday. A search
of Biden's garage at his Wilmington home was conducted on Dec.
20, and the remainder of the house, according to Biden's
lawyers, was searched this week, when additional documents were
discovered.

Bided answered a question Thursday from Fox News reporter Peter
Doocy by claiming the classified documents were in a locked
garage with his Corvette. "By the way, my Corvette’s in a locked
garage, OK?" the president said. "So it's not like they’re
sitting out in the street."

Highlighting the fact that it is "risky and irresponsible to
keep classified information in an improperly secured location,"
Jamil Jaffer, founder and executive director of the National
Security Institute, told Fox that Biden's handling of the
documents is "certainly concerning."

"The fact that President Biden continued to find classified
documents as recently as this past week, even after having first
identified this problem in early November and having identified
more documents in December, is certainly concerning," Jaffer
said. "At the same time, it is also extremely concerning that
classified documents were found in former President Trump’s
possession long after he had been asked to turn any such
documents over, and after he had received a subpoena for such
documents."

"While it still remains unclear why President Biden had such
documents in his possession long after he left office and in
insecure locations, at least thus far he has not claimed, as
former President Trump has, that the documents were
appropriately removed, either because they were personal
documents — which they are not — or that they had been properly
declassified, which there is no evidence yet that they had
been," he added.

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While there has been no confirmation of the information that was
contained in the discovered documents, one was reportedly marked
top secret, CNN reported this week based on a source familiar
with the matter. The documents reportedly included intelligence
memos and briefing documents on topics that included Ukraine,
Iran and the United Kingdom, according to the source.

Biden's lawyers say they discovered no documents at Biden's
residence in Rehoboth Beach, and Sauber reiterated Saturday that
the White House would cooperate with Hur’s investigation.

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment.

Fox News' Anders Hagstrom and Chris Pandolfo contributed to this
article.

<https://www.foxnews.com/politics/bidens-irresponsible-handling-
classified-docs-bigger-leakage-risk-trumps-experts-say>