Opinions

Joe Biden's 'No Regrets' Presidency


Journal Editorial Report: Paul Gigot interviews former Attorney General Michael Mukasey. Images: AFP/Getty Images Composite: Mark Kelly

One of President Biden’s political character traits is his manifest disdain for anyone who questions his behavior or judgment. This has been on full public display since the discovery of classified documents at his office and home, and it’s drawing him deeper into a political morass.

“I think you’re going to find there’s nothing there,” Mr. Biden said Thursday when asked in California about the documents found at his Penn Biden Center office and in his garage next to his Corvette. “I have no regrets. I’m following what the lawyers have told me they want me to do. It’s exactly what we’re doing. There is no there there.”

As to the garage, Mr. Biden said it was the equivalent of a secure facility. “By the way, my Corvette’s in a locked garage, OK? So it’s not like they’re sitting out on the street,” Mr. Biden said, with a dismissiveness that would have produced days of commentary about the risks to national security and the rule of law had

Donald Trump

said it.

We can’t wait to hear how the President explains the news late Saturday that a more thorough search of his Wilmington, Del., home discovered more documents with classified markings. This search was done at the request of the Justice Department, which finally decided to act like it is conducting a real investigation. Justice had previously let Mr. Biden’s aides and lawyers do the searching.

Justice still allowed Mr. Biden’s lawyers to be on hand for the search, a courtesy they didn’t extend when they raided Mar-a-Lago. Mr. Biden’s attorney, Robert Bauer, said in a statement that the documents included classified material from Mr. Biden’s years as a Senator, which ended in 2008, and as Vice President, which ended in 2017. The discovery of the new material makes clear that Justice’s earlier indulgence was a mistake, and a double standard, and the searches by the White House team were inadequate.

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All of this suggests Mr. Biden’s handling of documents hasn’t been all that different from Mr. Trump’s after all. It appears he felt entitled to take classified documents home with him while a Senator. Did he put them in his briefcase to read on Amtrak on his commute home for the weekend? His attitude toward classified information was unserious enough that he kept them for years.

The main difference is that Mr. Trump continued to resist turning over to the National Archives the documents he had kept. Mr. Biden’s defenders want to focus on this difference, which has the advantage of downplaying the cavalier handling of the documents, which is the real transgression and has cost others their careers.

All of this is fodder for Robert Hur, the special counsel appointed to investigate the Biden document discovery. This ought to include a search of Mr. Biden’s other properties. The chain of custody for the documents will be important to track and disclose.

Without knowing what the documents contain, it’s impossible to know the threat if any to national security. But note that there have been no leaks about what the documents contain, in contrast to the unconfirmed leaks about “nuclear secrets” regarding Mr. Trump.

Mr. Biden can’t be indicted as a sitting President under Justice Department rules, but the threat here is more political than criminal. The public can see the double standard the White House is indulging to explain away his actions, even if most of the press corps doesn’t. The President had better hope there isn’t more “there there,” or he might find his hope for a second term in jeopardy.

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Appeared in the January 23, 2023, print edition as ‘The ‘No Regrets’ Presidency.’



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