Washington Post reporter says Biden White House looks like its 'hiding something'
Washington Post reporter Carol Leonnig said Monday that the Biden White House looks like they're "hiding something" in the document scandal.
President Joe Biden’s growing document disaster isn’t quite a scandal by Washington terms. It doesn’t have the expression "gate" attached to it in every news story. But with the constant stream of newly found documents, it’s like a TV cop show. Call it "Law & Order: POTUS."
Except it wouldn’t make just one episode. Biden guaranteed four with four separate document discoveries. "POTUS" has everything but the calling card "dun-dun" sound and a Lenny Briscoe (RIP) joke to set things in motion.
Biden put himself in more legal hot water than his wayward son Hunter. And even the press can’t avoid making comparisons to former President Donald Trump’s document scandal. Especially since Biden bashed Trump as "irresponsible" for the Mar-a-Lago documents.
Biden’s fiasco has divided the media – with some downplaying the president’s behavior or attacking his critics. But, Biden’s cover-up and awful response to a reporter’s question were so bad that some loyalists backed away or were even critical.
MSNBC was, naturally, one of the pro-Biden diehards, joined by ABC and Politico.
ABC hilariously headlined one mid-week story, "Biden leaves questions unanswered on classified documents, as GOP pounces." The press has Republicans "pounce" so often it almost deserves its own meme.
Then there’s "The View," with co-host Joy Behar hinting that the documents were a set-up by evil Republicans. "I've never seen a luckier person than Donald Trump," she whined. "Just as we're this close to getting him, somehow these documents appear," as if someone planted them.
The next day, "The View" team tried to rationalize the whole crisis without reminding people of their crazy conspiracy theory. Co-host Sunny Hostin defended the slow investigation and the lack of transparency because things worked "at a palatial pace." (She probably meant "glacial," but who knows.) She added, "I think the holidays helped them out a little bit." Of course, there were no holidays between the original document discovery and the election.
Then came MSBNC. Sunday night’s front page led with five pieces about Biden and documents, four obviously taking the Democratic Party line. The most overt ones included, "Details of Biden classified documents story deflate right-wing 'whataboutism'" and "On classified docs, GOP fails again to find a parallel for Trump."
MSNBC Executive Producer Kyle Griffin also tweeted like he was working for the Biden press office, which admittedly may have openings soon. "The White House has, once again, followed proper protocols and alerted the Justice Department that additional documents with classified markings were discovered at Biden's private residence this week. This is not the process that Team Trump has followed."
Politico, D-DC, did its part. Its White House reporter Eli Stokols told CNN "Inside Politics" Sunday, January 15, that the document disaster "takes some paint off the Biden presidency." His reasoning was laughable, "it's because they're supposed to be the ones who know what they're doing, they're supposed to be the grownups, the competent ones."
Politico also used its Sunday Playbook newsletter to calm the Democrat establishment by deploying six separate minimizing words for the document crisis – in order, "document drama," "documents situation," "document headache," "documents problem," "documents probe" and a repeat of "document drama."
They might as well have led with a Spotify link for Bobby McFerrin’s "Don't Worry, Be Happy." Except Democrats and the media are genuinely worried about Biden's waning presidency.
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ABC "This Week" host Jonathan Karl redeemed his network some and gave a commendable analysis: "The White House says it is committed to transparency, but the first batch of documents was discovered on November 2, just days before the midterm elections, and the public didn't learn of it until this week. And only after reporters started asking questions."
Others tried to make light of the situation. Late-night hosts Jimmy Kimmel and Seth Meyers both took a few minor digs at Biden. "Jimmy Kimmel Live" namesake Kimmel said, "We’re one episode of ‘Storage Wars’ away from finding out who killed JFK." "Late Night with Seth Meyers" host Meyers described the incidents as "the old grandpa caught shoplifting maneuver." (Do we get Document Dramamine so we don't get sick watching those two?)
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"Dilbert" creator Scott Adams was actually funny, "My theory is that Biden leaves a trail of classified documents wherever he goes so he can find his way back." And Babylon Bee made Twitter CEO Elon Musk laugh with a perfect summation of the news: "DOJ Indicts Trump For Biden’s Possession Of Classified Documents."
That’s all so far. I have to go check my garage to see if Biden left any documents there.
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