This week’s White House report card finds President Joe Biden in potential legal trouble for having stashes of classified documents from his time as vice president in the garage of his Wilmington, Del., lakefront home and University of Pennsylvania office.
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While it is unclear what the documents improperly, and likely illegally, taken and stored are about, there is a special counsel assigned to get to the bottom of the growing scandal.
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It is a huge blemish on his administration, especially after Biden condemned former President Donald Trump’s housing of classified information in his Mar-A-Lago resort home in Florida. Now both of the leading 2024 presidential candidates are being dogged by special investigations.
Our conservative grader Jed Babbin, like even Biden’s liberal media defenders, noted the potential damage of the scandal. He graded the president’s week with an “F” and said, “It would be hard for even the White House to pretend that this was a good week for President Biden and his team.”
Democratic pollster John Zogby, however, said that there were other off-setting positives during the week including a slowing of inflation to an annual rate of 6.5%. In grading a “C-” he also noted the president’s rising approval rate and the documents problem. “Good numbers, stinky week,” said Zogby.
Jed Babbin
Grade F
It would be hard for even the White House to pretend that this was a good week for President Joe Biden and his team. After confusing a Salvation Army person for a member of the Secret Service, Biden was discovered to have classified documents stored in his Washington “think tank” and Delaware home and garage, the FAA managed to ground all U.S. flights for several hours due to a computer screw up, and the Consumer Product Safety Commission wanted to ban gas stoves.
Boxes of highly classified documents from Biden’s time as vice president — including intelligence information on Iran, Ukraine and the UK — were found at the University of Pennsylvania’s Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement in early November. The news was concealed very conveniently from the media until after the November midterm elections. Later in the week, more classified documents were found in Biden’s Delaware home and garage. Biden laughed this off saying, “My Corvette was in a locked garage. OK? So it’s not like they were sitting out on the street.”
In September, Biden was asked about the classified documents found at former President Donald Trump’s estate. He asked how “that could possibly happen” and how “anyone could be that irresponsible.” Democrats have been counting on Trump being indicted for wrongful possession of those documents but that’s going to be really hard for Democratic Attorney General Merrick Garland to get done with Biden being in the same position. Garland has appointed a special counsel to investigate the Biden case, but the fact that the statute of limitations has probably run out already may prevent prosecution.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has managed to reform the “NOTAMs” system that warns pilots of conditions that affect their flying conditions and destinations. Before, it had been called “Notice to Airmen” since the system was created. “Woke” Buttigieg converted it to “Notice to Air Missions,” getting rid of the offending term. The change didn’t prevent the FAA computers from going down, grounding hundreds of flights for several hours.
The CPSC was considering banning gas stoves because of supposed health dangers. It backed off soon after the announcement when it received a loud protest from Gordon Ramsey.
Unnoticed was the “Three Amigos” summit meeting Biden had with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. It should have been a major opportunity for Biden to do something about the mess he’s created at the southern border. Biden ignored the opportunity and the summit was a nothingburger. There is, however, reportedly a new deal with Canada and Mexico to send semiconductor jobs to Mexico. And the Biden Beat goes on and on.
John Zogby
Grade C-
In honor of the Hollywood awards season, let’s start out with a couple of famous taglines from iconic films. We could use ‘You can’t handle the truth,’ from An Officer and a Gentleman to sum up the presidency and post-presidency of Donald Trump. For President Joe Biden, the best line is from Jaws 2: ‘Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water…’
The numbers are good for Biden with inflation annualized at 6.5% last month, a downward trajectory that continued from 9.5% five months ago. And his approval rating since Jan. 1 is up to 46%, with a disapproval rating at 50.2%. Plus he looked mighty good with his North American summit addressing the issue of the southern border and by the just plain silliness of the loyal opposition in the House.
But then those pesky classified documents enter the picture. Not just once, but twice. At least he handed them over, unlike his predecessor. But then his team did wait until the 2022 election was over. Bad optics. Smells like a landfill on a July day in D.C., and offers to stink up his headlines for a long time. Good numbers, stinky week.
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Jed Babbin is a Washington Examiner contributor and former deputy undersecretary of defense in the administration of former President George H.W. Bush. Follow him on Twitter @jedbabbin
John Zogby is the founder of the Zogby Survey and senior partner at John Zogby Strategies. His weekly podcast with son and managing partner Jeremy Zogby can be heard here. Follow him on Twitter @ZogbyStrategies
