Obama ethics chief chides Biden over classified document scandal

By 
 January 18, 2023

The ethics chief from the Obama administration is slamming President Biden over his classified document scandal.

As the White House scrambles to play damage control, Walter Shaub, an occasional critic of Biden's sleazy dealings, called Biden's mishandling of classified information "inexcusable."

Obama official blasts Biden

The White House has vaguely asserted that Biden accidentally misplaced the documents, which so far have surfaced at the Penn Biden Center and at Biden's home in Delaware.

Not surprisingly, Shaub still found a way to make light of the scandal, saying it is less serious than President Trump's Mar-A-Lago document controversy.

But Shaun scolded Biden for an "inexcusable neglect" of basic security measures.

"It’s nothing like Trump’s deliberate refusal to return classified records demanded by the National Archives, but Biden’s own retention of classified records reflects an inexcusable neglect of the most basic security protocols," Shaub told Fox News.

Hiding the truth

The White House has harped incessantly on Biden's supposed cooperation and "transparency," and Democrats have sought to defend Biden by claiming his actions can't be compared to those of President Trump.

Still, the scandal has irked even close allies of Biden, while raising fresh doubts about his political future as he prepares to launch a re-election bid.

Biden's lawyers found the first set of documents in November but didn't publicly disclose them until last week. And even then, they initially failed to share that a second set had been found at Biden's home next to his Corvette.

Shaub called Biden's caginess a "self-inflicted wound."

"The fact that the White House didn’t mention that records were found in more than one location when first asked about them was a breach of trust with the public and a self-inflicted wound," Shaub said.

Double standard?

Shaub has been known to come at Biden now and then, including on his son Hunter Biden's sleazy art sales, which added to suspicions that the Biden family is involved in money laundering.

As conservatives complain of disparate treatment by the justice system, Shaub claimed that the appointment of a Special Counsel to probe President Biden reflects "even-handed treatment of the current and former president."

Whether Trump and Biden actually will be treated the same remains to be seen. In the meantime, the administration continues to stonewall virtually all questions about the scandal, citing the ongoing Justice Department investigation.

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