The "Secret Documents Gate" spread rapidly! US media: Biden is facing the "worst political crisis"
[Global Times special correspondent Xiao Datao in the United States, Canada, and Germany, short room Aoki Liu Yupeng, Chen Kang] On the 12th local time, the U.S. Department of Justice announced the appointment of former Maryland District Attorney Robert Hull as a special prosecutor in charge of investigating the U.S. President Biden may have mishandled classified documents during his tenure as vice president.
In recent days, Biden's "confidential document gate" incident has become more and more troublesome. Two batches of confidential documents were discovered in his former office and residence.
Biden himself admitted on the 12th that a second batch of confidential documents were found in his private home in Delaware, and said he would cooperate with the Department of Justice investigation.
In this regard, the Republican Party of the United States seized this opportunity and demanded an in-depth investigation of this incident and other incidents related to Biden.
The Associated Press stated that this is a "chaotic and explosive political duel" with the White House after the Republicans control the House of Representatives, and it may even have an impact on the 2024 presidential election.
"Documents and my car are locked"
The Associated Press stated that US Attorney General Merrick Garland announced on the 12th that Robert Hull was appointed as a special prosecutor to investigate Biden's "confidential document gate" incident.
"Extraordinary circumstances such as this warrant the appointment of a special counsel," Garland said in announcing Hull's appointment. Demonstrate to the public the Department of Justice's commitment to independence and accountability on particularly sensitive issues."
Hull is 50 years old.
In 2018, Hull was nominated by then-President Trump to serve as the District Attorney of Maryland, responsible for overseeing a series of high-profile cases such as national security affairs and public corruption.
"I will conduct the appointed investigation with fair, impartial and dispassionate judgment," Hull said in a statement after his appointment on Thursday. "I intend to pursue the facts swiftly and thoroughly, without fear or favoritism."
On the 12th, the White House held a press conference on the US economy, and Biden made a "self-praise" in his speech on the "good economic situation" during his tenure.
However, many reporters kept asking about the "confidential document gate" incident, and Biden had to respond.
He admitted to finding a second batch of classified documents in the garage of his private home in Wilmington, Delaware.
When a reporter asked Biden why he kept confidential documents in his private garage, Biden "tried to downplay the security risk," saying, "My car is in a locked private garage, not just like that. On the street. In any case, the papers and my car are locked."
Biden also took the initiative to "candidly broke the news" and said: "My lawyers have checked other places where I stored documents during my tenure as vice president. They found a small amount of confidential documents in storage areas and filing cabinets in my home and private library. Last night They have completed their inspection and immediately notified the Department of Justice to receive the documents. They did the same when they discovered the first batch of classified documents."
Biden repeatedly emphasized on the 12th: "As I said earlier this week, I take confidential documents and confidential materials very seriously. We will fully cooperate with the Department of Justice's review." On the 10th, when the media broke out and found that After the first batch of confidential documents, Biden, who was visiting Mexico, once "asked three questions."
"I'm surprised. I don't know why these documents are here, what's in them," he said.
The Biden "confidential document gate" incident was first exposed by CBS on January 9 based on reports from sources.
According to reports, the first batch of classified documents was on November 2 last year, six days before last year's midterm elections, when a lawyer for Biden's team was in a closet of a private office he had used in the Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement at the University of Pennsylvania. found in.
Subsequently, Biden's legal team and the White House acknowledged the matter and stated that "these documents were inadvertently misplaced."
On the 11th, a number of American media reported again that, according to sources, a second batch of confidential documents was found in the garage of Biden's private home in Delaware, which was discovered on December 20 last year.
"A unique moment in American history"
"This marks a unique moment in American history-the current president and the former president of the United States are under the investigation of the special prosecutor at the same time." CNN stated that Attorney General Garland's decision will make the 2024 US presidential election more difficult. Two of his potential candidates face investigations into the mishandling of classified documents.
The Associated Press stated that when FBI agents raided Trump's private residence Mar-a-Lago in Florida last August, they found a batch of classified documents.
Subsequently, the Department of Justice appointed a special prosecutor in November last year to be responsible for investigating Trump's "possession of confidential documents".
Now that Biden himself has been exposed for possibly mishandling confidential documents, Trump immediately asked on social media: "When will the FBI raid many of Biden's homes, maybe even the White House?"
Republicans in the United States have called for an investigation of Biden.
House Speaker McCarthy said at a press conference on the 12th that Biden "must have known in advance" that he had previously classified documents in his private office, "I think if you call a lawyer and ask him to take some from your office Stuff, it shows that you must know in advance. So, I think Biden has a lot of things to answer to the American public. However, the bright side is that the American public currently has a House of Representatives that he can answer to.”
Republican Representative Mike Turner, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, recently sent a letter to Director of National Intelligence Haynes asking for an "immediate review and damage assessment."
Turner said it is possible that Biden violated the Presidential Records Act and laws protecting national security.
Republican Representative Green said: "Why did Biden still have classified information after he stepped down as vice president? This is very serious and must be investigated." She also criticized the double standards of the US judicial system. She said: "I call again: Impeach Biden , that’s what we need to do.”
In addition to the "confidential document gate", other investigations by the Republican Party against the Biden administration are also advancing.
Republican Rep. James Comer, chairman of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, said in a statement that the investigation into Biden is "a top priority for House Republicans during this Congress."
Comer said that the House of Representatives will launch 40 to 50 investigations into the Biden administration, including investigating issues related to Biden's son Hunter and Democrats' pressure on social media to suppress negative reports related to Biden.
Comer asked the Treasury Department to provide information on the financial dealings of certain Biden family members and called on former Twitter executives to testify in public hearings.
The Associated Press commented on this, stating that the Republicans moved quickly after taking control of the House of Representatives and are launching a "chaotic and explosive political duel" with the White House, which will have an impact on the 2024 presidential election.
The Russian "Izvestia" stated that the US Republican Party's investigation into Biden's "confidential document gate" will cause damage to Biden's reputation before the 2024 US presidential election, and may even lead to impeachment and criminal proceedings.
According to the report, even if no scandal related to classified documents is discovered, Republicans will still find reasons to investigate Biden.
The classified documents scandal has turned into a Republican pushback against the Biden administration's investigation of former President Trump.
This shows that the internal struggle between the two parties in the United States is becoming increasingly fierce.
"What is the White House trying to hide?"
"The direction of the political storm in Washington has changed," German North German Radio and Television said on the 13th that the direction of the political storm in Washington has changed so quickly.
Last week, the world was still laughing at the Republican speaker election in the House of Representatives after 15 rounds of voting, and now the storm is starting to whistle in Biden's ears.
Biden had previously denounced Trump's "irresponsible" behavior of hiding confidential documents, but now the accusation has turned to Biden himself.
The timing couldn't be worse for Biden as he prepares to announce his 2024 re-election bid in the coming months.
Today, doubts about Biden are growing again, even among Democrats.
The US "New York Post" stated on the 12th that although many important details of the "confidential document gate" are still hidden, the White House press secretary Jean-Pierre repeatedly claimed at the press conference that day that Biden was handling confidential documents. Aspects are "transparent".
In this regard, many reporters from the White House press corps took turns to ask questions.
Tamara Keith, chairman of the White House Correspondents Association and a reporter for National Public Radio (NPR), said: "Do you admit that the information released by the White House earlier was incomplete?" Attorney General Garland admitted that the (second batch) of classified documents was discovered on December 20 last year, which was "quite a surprise" to everyone.
Jean-Pierre said that "the search was continuing."
Newsmax reporter James Rosen yelled: "How can you say it's transparent when you've withheld this information for so long?" NBC reporter Kristin Wilke questioned : "Are you acknowledging that the fact that the White House has not disclosed this to the public, even though you have known about it for months, has undermined the president's commitment to transparency to the American people?" Fox News reporter Ducey put it bluntly: "What is the White House trying to hide?"
CNN stated that Biden is facing the most serious political crisis in his presidential career.
It was not until the media exposure this week that the White House confirmed to the outside world that Biden had confidential documents.
According to reports, Republican politicians have been exaggerating a "conspiracy theory": the Democratic Party is politicizing the American judiciary.
Today, the White House directly sent a "big gift" to the new Congress controlled by the Republican Party.
“The real scandal is not that Biden has classified documents, because sadly they all do. The scandal is that the DOJ found out about this a week before the midterm elections and chose to suppress it to give one party an edge.” Snowden, who revealed the "Prism Gate" incident in the United States, pointed out the core of Biden's "Confidential Documents Gate" incident on social media.
"It is worth noting that the president took away far more classified documents than many whistleblowers." Snowden said that when Ali Ti Wenner (a former contractor of the US National Security Agency) was arrested for leaking only one document Sentenced to 5 years, "Biden, Trump, Hillary Clinton... these people have hidden hundreds of confidential documents, but they will not go to jail."
(Source: Global Times Author: Xiao Datao short house Aoki Liu Yupeng Chen Kang)