It’s been weeks since the Biden classified documents scandal broke. In that time, Americans learned that Biden’s lawyers mysteriously ‘discovered’ them mere days before the 2022 midterm elections.
The classified documents were found in several stashes. The first were discovered in a “lock box” in a closet at the Penn Biden Center in Washington D.C. Another was found at Biden’s home in Wilmington, Delaware. Then another stash was found in his garage, apparently in boxes next to his beloved 1967 Corvette Stingray.
Biden’s classified documents had been shuffled out at the end of his vice presidency. One mystery woman, Kathy Chung, then a Biden aide, was questioned by law enforcement over her role moving the boxes of docs from the vice president’s office. Chung had so happened to have gotten her job from the recommendation of Hunter Biden. During her time at the VP’s office, she had given Hunter a “treasure trove” of phone numbers for the most famous and powerful people in the country. She also copied him on the Vice President’s “intelligence briefings.” She’s also a ‘ghost’ on the Internet.
The directors of the Penn Biden Center are a veritable ‘who’s who’ of foreign policy influencers. The Penn Biden Center’s first managing director was none other than current Secretary of State Antony Blinken. He was succeeded in this role by White House counselor Steven Richetti. After him followed a managing director who gained prominence during the first Trump impeachment hearings: Dr. Michael Carpenter.
Dr. Carpenter, a Russia and Ukraine expert, would certainly have the “dirt” on Joe and Hunter Biden. He was also behind the scenes during the Trump impeachment hoax. He worked with the alleged “whistleblower” Eric Ciaramella. He was by Joe Biden’s side when he bragged about pressuring Ukraine to fire the prosecutor investigating the gas company paying his son Hunter Biden. He presided over the Penn Biden Center while it stored Joe Biden’s classified documents.
So, if you combine the suspect political timing, the unpopularity of the Democratic president, the murkiness of how such a scandal happened, the fact that his administration raided former President Donald Trump over a similar issue, and the quick appointment of a Special Counsel by one of the most politicized attorney generals in U.S. history, then you have more than enough cause to question whether it was an “inside job.”
That is what Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz has done. On Wednesday, he openly questioned whether that was the case.
“There’s an element to this that feels like the Democrats are taking out Joe Biden,” Gaetz said.
“I don’t know that that’s the case, but I don’t know that it’s not,” he added.
“But just as Joe Biden is hardening the cement around his decision to run for president again, they start looking for what classified documents might have been tucked away eight years ago,” Gaetz noted.
It is unknown what is in the classified documents discovered at the Penn Biden Center and at Joe Biden’s Wilmington Delaware home. However, CNN has reported that the classified documents involved Ukraine.
“Among the classified documents from Joe Biden’s time as vice president discovered in a private office last fall are US intelligence memos and briefing materials that covered topics including Ukraine, Iran and the United Kingdom,” a source told CNN.
“A total of 10 documents with classification markings were found last year in Biden’s private academic office and they were dated between 2013 and 2016,” the report added.
Donald Trump, Biden’s potential 2024 rival, thinks he knows exactly what is in the classified documents stash.
“I think they knew long before November 2,” Trump told John Solomon on his podcast from January 11.
Trump added, “I think he knew probably right from the beginning and I think a lot of it had to do with Ukraine, because that was the papers he kept. And no, I think they knew about this for a long time and they didn’t do anything about it.”
When asked how documents from Biden’s vice presidency might “change the equation” in regards to Special Counsel Jack Smith’s probe into the Mar-a-Lago documents, Trump said, “Well, I think it totally changes that.”
“I was perfect under the Presidential Records Act,” Trump added. “I did absolutely nothing wrong.”
The FBI agents had seized over 11,000 documents and photographs without classified markings from Trump’s resort, along with about 100 documents marked ‘classified’ or ‘top secret.’ Trump has argued that he declassified these materials when he left office.
Trump also said that the FBI should raid Biden’s properties, as well as those belonging to his son Hunter Biden.
“What about all of these places that he’s got?” Trump asked. “What about his house? What about Hunter’s house? You know, who’s going to go in there like they did with me? Who’s gonna do that?”
There is no evidence of a “smoking gun” that this was an inside job. However, given that the Democratic Party never holds itself accountable, nor does it do anything without a calculated reason, the Biden lawyers’ sudden “discovery” of the classified documents that were missing for years has veteran political observers rightly asking questions.
Follow Kyle Becker on Twitter @kylenabecker.