MSNBC hosts get frustrated as WH Counsel spokesperson repeatedly dodges question on Biden documents
White House Counsel spokesperson Ian Sams repeatedly dodged several questions from the MSNBC "Morning Joe" hosts on Monday about President Biden's document scandal.
MSNBC hosts Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough appeared frustrated while pressing Ian Sams, spokesperson for the White House Counsel's office, about President Biden's document scandal as he repeatedly dodged their questions.
Sams said multiple times that the White House would be "following the DOJ's lead" and emphasized a contrast between Biden and the documents discovered at Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago home.
"OK. So, I mean it didn’t answer my question really, but I agree it’s been handled completely differently. There’s a complete contrast to the Mar-a-Lago documents. Put that aside for a second. How could this happen? And do you agree, having classified documents outside of where they should be is a serious issue?" she asked.
Sams repeated that Biden was taking it "very seriously" and added that the Department of Justice (DOJ) would be tasked with "finding all the facts, putting it all together, understanding exactly what happened, asking the questions. That’s appropriate. That’s why we’re fully cooperating, to understand how this happened."
White House Counsel spokesperson Ian Sams dodged multiple questions about President Biden's classified documents on Monday. (Screenshot/MSNBC/MorningJoe)
Scarborough pressed further and wondered why the DOJ "needs to tell the president why the president has classified documents in his home."
Sams said again that they were "being respectful" to the DOJ's investigation.
Later in the back-and-forth, Brzezinski continued to ask how something like this could happen and noted that there was "no answer being provided."
"I understand that there’s a desire for public disclosure of information, that there’s a desire for facts to come out. But it’s important that the full set of facts be gathered by the Department of Justice and to be presented publicly so people, the American people, can understand all of these details. That is the job of an independent, strong Justice Department to do. So we’ll be fully cooperative with that process to make sure they have all the information they need to define the full set of facts. Then we’ll be able to talk publicly more about the conclusion of that investigation and what it uncovered," he said.
President Biden gestures as he speaks during a news conference in the East Room of the White House, Wednesday, Jan. 19, 2022. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
After the interview, the hosts discussed the continuous dodging of questions and Brzezinski said she was still "confused."
"Mika asked the same question 34 times. How do they know? They’ll let us know. I got to say, though, I got to say – and people may not like it watching the show, if they hate Joe Biden, me saying this, but it’s the truth – that’s how you do it. Right there. If you’re spokesperson, that’s how you do it. You say we don’t have all the information. We’re going to let the Justice Department get all the information. There are things that – like are you kidding me, the DoJ has to give the information instead of Joe Biden?" Scarborough said.
Politico's Jonathan Lemire said it was something the White House was "struggling with" right now.
President Joe Biden smiles during a news conference in the State Dining Room of the White House on Nov. 9, 2022. (Ting Shen/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
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Scarborough added that at some point the White House has to say "no more documents out there."
"Well, I mean, Ian only misspoke one time in response to Mika’s question about exactly that, are there any other residences where documents might be found. The correct answer was from Ian, should have been, ‘Oh, my God, I hope not.’ Instead, he, you know, gave the basic recitation," MSNBC contributor Mike Barnicle added.
The DOJ seized a fifth batch of documents while they executed a search at the president's Wilmington, Delaware, home on Friday.
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