Slice News Staff Report
Revelations from the U.S. Department of Justice that more classified White House documents were linked to Pres. Joe Biden as a civilian sent White House reporters into recoinnasance mode in the daily briefing on Thursday. This second stash of papers was found in his Wilmington, DE garage.
The discovery of these new gound papers begs the question --What more do the American people not know?
Biden spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said her hands were tied in discussing details since an investigative review was laready underway. She had not budged on her standard response to questions about the findings all week, which was to contact the DOJ.
The so-called "Garage Gate" ordeal as dubbed by Doocy became the main focus of Thursday's briefing as network reporters pushed for more details that would enable them to crack the case. Jean Pierre repeated agin Friday that it is best to seek answeres from the White House counsel.
FOX reporter Peter Doocy was the only reporter to get a different answer out of the president himself at the end of a press conference on the economy Thursday. morning.
Hearing directly from Pres. Joe Biden was a slight crack into how he feels about the situation, but offered no clues as to what prompted the discovery from the start.
“Classified materials next to your Corvette? What were you thinking?” Doocy shot at the POTUS.
Biden, who says he hopes to address the matter more at another time, stated he is “cooperating fully” with the DOJ. He said people know that he takes classified material "seriously."
“My Corvette’s in a locked garage so it’s not like it’s sitting on the street,” Mr. Biden retorted.
“So the material was in a locked garage?” Mr. Doocy confirmed.
“Yes, as well as my Corvette,” the president offered.
One set of papers were found by Biden's attorneys while they were packing up his think tank in DC back in November of 2022. Attorneys taking on the role that is typically relegated to staffers, security or movers is itself questionable. Another set was found in his Delaware garage.
The press secretary has pledged total transparency to the press and public, but has dodged simple questions since news broke about the matter. The White House press corps is getting bits and pieces of information that has been delayed by two months. Many members of the press are agitated that the some of the missing details make it challenging to report on this story with accuracy. The repetitious answers that are provided are untenable in teh face of the gravitos of the incident.
A reporter on the second row asked the press secretary why the White Huse was not rtransparent at the time the secnd set of documents were found: " According to the Attorney General, documents were found on December 20th in his garage in Wilmington. Why was that not immediately addressed, as well as being transparent about that, if that was already known and not discussed upfront?:
“We have been transparent here,” Jean-Pierre insisted. “That is why the minute that his lawyers found those documents, they reported it, they reached out to the [National] Archives and the Department of Justice.”
Mona Austin of The Slice News inquired from the back row, "When did the press team know?" There was no answer.
White House documents being in the president's possession outside of the White House could be a significant violation of the law as well as a potential national security breach. It is an issue Biden told Doocy he takes seriously on Thursday when Doocy asked why the papers were in his Delware garage he answreed that the garage was locked.
Many other questions went unanswreed, such as who is the "we" amd "they" Jean-Pierre is referring to. The discussion gets cloudy when those pronouns are interchagned and it is not clear wheter she as a White Hosue official is referring to herself. as being privy to information.
Out of necessity Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed a special counsel, Robert Hur, to investigate on Thursday.
CBS Radio's Steve Portnoy pressed Mrs. Jean Pierre Friday after she reasoned that they are in the midst of a process and information can only be disclosed when "appropriate."
He said, "You describe a process, but it sort of feels like a strategy, a communications strategy to protect the president. Was it the hope and expectation here that this wouild have remianied a private matter and not been subject to public disclosure?"
"Look, Steven, that’s your version of the case. I’ve been very clear here, and I’ve answered that question multiple times in different versions — right? — in the last couple of days."
This expalanationw as not sufficient for Portnot who continued to dig deeper.
Said the correspondent, ". . .Oftentimes in the careers of White House Press Secretaries, there comes a time where they are asked, you know, what they knew and when they knew it. Were you or any member of your staff involved in the crafting of the strategy as to when this disclosure should be made?. . ."
CBS News broke the classified document story.
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