What a difference a week can make.
President Joe Biden‘s good start to 2023 is now a memory amid his own classified documents scandal, perpetuated by the drip, drip, drip of new information about the materials and the White House‘s response to them. But as the controversy dredges up competence and transparency concerns regarding his administration, the White House has gone on the offensive as the president tries to underscore his record before potentially launching a 2024 reelection campaign.
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When asked if the White House could have handled revelations about the finding of classified documents from Biden’s vice presidency better, the answer is “yes,” according to Democratic strategist Stefan Hankin.
“The year started off really good for the White House, and Republicans were helping in keeping that going,” he told the Washington Examiner. “Do you want to take this step back? No.”
Since the classified documents story broke, Biden has returned from a foreign trip and hosted two foreign leaders, delivered a eulogy and sermon, spoken about what he says are his economic achievements, and remarked on his accomplishments for the black community, in addition to welcoming a championship sports team to the White House. But Tuesday’s press briefing was dominated by questions regarding the classified materials located last November, last month, and last week but not disclosed until the last seven days.
Hankin is adamant Biden’s classified documents problems will be a “blip” and not exacerbate concerns about competence and transparency after, for example, Biden’s management of the pandemic and withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan. The Lincoln Park Strategies founder and president added those responsible for disputing comparisons between Biden and former President Donald Trump‘s classified material situations should be supporters outside the White House rather than administration aides.
“You’ve got to push your narrative and just try to hope that it gets picked up,” he said. “I’m feeling fairly confident that the Republicans in the House will do a very good job of stepping on their own toes in the not-too-distant future.”
House Republicans, who now hold the majority in the chamber, have amplified Biden’s classified documents issues by pressing the White House on who had access to them at his Washington, D.C., think tank and Wilmington, Delaware, home, as well as any relevant communication between the White House, the president’s personal attorneys, and the Justice Department.
The White House has been deferential toward special counsel Robert Hur, appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland last week. It has attributed Hur’s investigation into Biden’s classified documents as the reason why aides cannot answer certain questions. But staffers have been more assertive regarding the House Republican-led inquiries despite pledges to review and respond to oversight requests in good faith.
“They’ve decided that it’s time for more political stunts and theater,” White House counsel spokesman Ian Sams said on a phone call Tuesday. “They’re faking outrage even though they defended the former president’s actions.”
Sams was pressed on the White House’s decision not to acknowledge the second batch of classified documents in a statement Biden read in Mexico last week. The spokesman reiterated that he and his colleagues are striving to strike a balance between preserving the “integrity” of Hur’s investigation and transparency, divulging details “as it’s appropriate.”
“Regular, ongoing public disclosures also pose the risk that as further information develops, answers provided on a periodic basis may be incomplete,” he said. “The very nature of being cooperative with an ongoing investigation means that we need to let that investigation play out and to try to be respectful of the facts as they come to light through that investigation.”
Sams criticized House Republicans, including Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY), a day earlier. In an email, he described them as having “no credibility” after Comer told CNN “his biggest concern isn’t the declassified documents” but the “discrepancy” between how the Justice Department is treating Biden and Trump. Sams wrote their demands “should be met with skepticism,” as they were part of “a shamelessly hypocritical attempt to attack” the president.
The White House had dedicated the first week of 2023 to differentiating themselves from House Republicans, who were embroiled in a messy speakership impasse. Biden was even accompanied by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) in Kentucky to promote their $550 billion bipartisan infrastructure law. There, too, had been plans to underline the Democrats-only Inflation Reduction Act, their $430 billion climate and healthcare spending measure. The provision capping the price of insulin to $35 for Medicare recipients was introduced this month.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre has insisted Biden’s classified documents will not distract from his agenda as his administration embarks on its third year with a new Congress. But she herself was grilled on the classified materials, from whether the president remains confident in his communications team to why she told reporters last week the public could “assume” the search for records had been “completed.” More were uncovered privately that very day, but they were not publicly recognized last weekend.
“Are you upset that you came out to this podium on Friday with incomplete and inaccurate information? And are you concerned that it affects your credibility up here?” one reporter asked.
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“What I’m concerned about is making sure that we do not politically interfere in the Department of Justice,” she replied.
