The Credentialed News is working overtime to protect Brandon…well, when they actually have an article about what’s going on with the document issue. There are zero web front page pieces, even in opinion, on the documents issue. Nor at the Washington Post, for which the current POTUS’ name is mentioned zero times. Nor at the LA Times
Fact check: Biden did have the authority to declassify documents as vice president
The claim: Biden did not have the authority to declassify documents as vice president
A Jan. 12 Instagram reel (direct link, archived link) shows a clip of President Joe Biden answering a question from Fox News’ Peter Doocy about a batch of classified documents that were found at Biden’s home.
“This Clown show is going to need a bigger tent,” reads the post’s caption. “Biden did NOT have the authority to declassify documents that were classified in his position of Vice President during the Obama administration. Only the President can declassify, classified documents, not the Vice President. So why were these documents in his possession?”
The USA Today rates this as false, because
Legal experts told USA TODAY that Biden had the authority to declassify documents as vice president as the result of a 2009 executive order signed by President Barack Obama. (snip)
McClanahan, who also teaches at the George Washington University Law School, said that under a 2009 executive order signed by Obama, the vice president is included in a list of “original classification authorities,” meaning Biden had the power declassify anything he classified.
The Washington Post also reported vice presidents have the authority to declassify anything they classified. The New York Times similarly reported that the vice president has the power to declassify, while noting the scope of that authority “has never been definitively tested.”
Both the Times and Washington Post (which is a “fact check” by so often wrong and utterly biased Glenn Kessler) are using the same rational. But, consider, it was an executive order, not by law. So there’s challenge there. Further, the VP can only declassify what he classified in the first place. We know nothing of these documents found in all sorts of places. Were they ones Biden classified first? Were the appropriate federal agencies, including the National Archives, informed? Where is the paper trail of this being done? None of these pieces ask that relevant question.
The White House has said there are no visitor logs at Joe Biden’s Delaware home, after Republicans demanded to see them.
It came after Republicans pressed for more information after learning that classified files dating from Biden’s time as vice president were being wrongly kept there.
However — per the White House, no president in recent history has logged who comes and goes from their private home. Those records are only kept for official locations like the White House.
This, though, is true. There are most likely Secret Service logs, but, they are private. Except, the uber-leftist group CREW sued to get the visitor logs from Mar-A-Lago, and a judge required that they be released for a time period.
The Secret Service also says that it doesn’t keep visitor logs at Biden’s personal residences, and that it does not keep permanent records of visitors to his properties it screens, NBC News said.
So, it probably notes who’s coming and going, then purges that data when they deem it no longer necessary at private residences. That said, since Biden is probably doing absolutely nothing but resting and taking his medications when he travels to one of his Delaware houses, there are probably no visitors.
I will go out on a limb here and make the claim that Presidents should be able to meet with people privately and without records. If you leave out the obvious claims of Bill Clinton’s “meeting” Monica Lewinski privately and Joe Biden’s need to take bribes without witnesses, in the normal course of business it is a valuable thing for the President to meet with advisors on important issues from a wide swath of experts and influential people. Such people might not agree to meetings if each time they do they are dragged into the political circus that is modern politics. Even the example of CREW, used above demonstrates that some groups would want such logs, if they existed, in order to identify and attack supporters, advisors, and even to draw inferences on what important matter are being discussed. I agree with the argument that deliberations among high government officials NEED a level of privacy and that an important public function is served by doing so. This is true is the President is Biden or Trump or Clinton or Bush or even Nixon.
So obozo can save a magic wand so the pedo can take top secret documents home, not.
Just as did Trump, in his mind President Obama declassified all these documents. In addition, after his election President Biden declassified all these documents. They were double declassified in the minds of TWO Presidents!
Trump’s stolen documents were only declassified in the mind of ONE President!
Dear Elwood:
So you claim that Sleepy Joe can pardon his actions when he was VP.
Wow.
No. But good idea!
Yes, pretty much that is the way it works. That didn’t happen in this case. As I mentioned before, Presidents, VPs, Senators, etc, don’t do their own record keeping and ensure everything is property locked up at night. Staff does that for them. There is no crime here for either Trump or Biden. I am amazed the news media wants to focus on this trivial pursuit instead of focusing on Biden being senile and corrupt. If any at their level does find such a document the proper course is to properly secure it and do a damage assessment. That is being done.
Mr Teach asks:
Did Mr Teach ask these questions regarding Mr Trump’s documents?