Posting on Twitter, Jonathan Turley sounded off about what, in his view, is going on with Biden, the Biden documents, and how the DOJ and FBI are treating the Biden family with kid gloves over the document Turley, for context, describes himself as “Shapiro Chair of Public Interest Law at George Washington University, criminal defense attorney, columnist, and legal analyst”. So he knows what he’s talking about. Here’s what he said:
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the DOJ declined to have the FBI conduct searches and instead allowed uncleared private counsel to do so. If true, it is a level of accommodation that would make a Kardashian blush.
… Why would any investigator not want to conduct a search? The alternative was to allow uncleared, unknown counsel to sort through potential classified material. There is no legal or logical reason why the DOJ would prefer private counsel to do such a search.
…It also undermines the Justice Department’s position in both cases. This is the department threatening criminal charges over mishandling of classified material. Yet, WSJ is reporting that it opted for the least secure method of searching for additional documents…
…The preference to use uncleared lawyers violates core policies in the handling of potentially classified material. The DOJ went along with a bizarre “look but don’t read” approach in the use of uncleared persons after finding highly classified material.
…As noted earlier, the FBI allowed the Trump staff to continue to hold classified documents with the added security on the storage room. The material should still not have been stored at the location…
…However, in this case, reported TS or TS/SCI material was found in a closet in a private office and there was no idea if additional material would be found in that or other unsecured locations…
…If they were given the chance to conduct the search themselves for either Trump or Biden documents, it is bizarre that they would not take that option. The WSJ is saying that they were given that option and declined it.
What Turley was referencing in those tweets was a ground-shaking Wall Street Journal report in which the WSJ claimed that the FBI let Biden’s attorneys look for the documents, reporting:
The Justice Department considered having FBI agents monitor a search by President Biden’s lawyers for classified documents at his homes but decided against it, both to avoid complicating later stages of the investigation and because Mr. Biden’s attorneys had quickly turned over a first batch and were cooperating, according to people familiar with the matter.
After Mr. Biden’s lawyers discovered documents marked as classified dating from his term as vice president at an office he used at a Washington-based think tank on Nov. 2, the Justice Department opened an inquiry into why and how they got there. Mr. Biden’s legal team prepared to search his other properties for any similar documents, and discussed with the Justice Department the prospect of having FBI agents present while Mr. Biden’s lawyers conducted the additional searches.
Instead, the two sides agreed that Mr. Biden’s personal attorneys would inspect the homes, notify the Justice Department as soon as they identified any other potentially classified records, and arrange for law-enforcement authorities to take them.
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