Speaker McCarthy believes that President Biden knew about the classified documents that were found in his home. McCarthy argues that if the president did not know about the documents, he wouldn’t have assigned attorneys to remove things from his office.
During his first press conference since becoming speaker, McCarthy outlined his reasoning for why he believed the president knew about the documents. “I think if you call a lawyer to remove something for your office, he must have known ahead of time,” he said.
The speaker added, “so I think he has a lot of answers to the American public. The good thing about that is the American public has a Congress that can get the answers.” McCarthy said congress must imminently investigate the matter since Joe Biden was very concerned about former president Donald Trump’s documents.
“Here’s an individual that sat on “60 minutes” that was so concerned about President Trump’s documents, and now we find that this is a vice president keeping it for years out in the open in different locations” he added.
McCarthy disagreed with his colleagues in regard to the investigation into Biden. Rep. Mike Turner (R-OH), and top Republicans on the Intelligence Committee requested agencies to conduct a “damage assessment” into the matter and desired briefings from Attorney General Merrick Garland.
McCarthy favored his own approach to investigating the president. The speaker’s new subcommittee on the weaponization of the federal government will handle the investigations.
The subcommittee will be comprised of nine Republicans and six Democrats. It will be led by Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.
Kevin McCarthy firmly differentiated the cases between Trump and Biden. “From one standpoint, they knew the documents were there, you look at President Biden, he wasn’t president. He was vice president. He held these in different locations right out in the open. He criticized President Trump.”
A president has the ability to declassify any document they choose. Contrarily, a vice president does not. Therefore, the cases of Trump and Biden are starkly different. Speaker McCarthy supports this reasoning by stating the aforementioned.
It seems unlikely Joe Biden will face severe charges; however, AG Merrick Garland has already appointed a special counsel to investigate the president.
The American people deserve answers. https://t.co/GlLYBrI7cm
— Rep. Mike Johnson (@RepMikeJohnson) January 13, 2023
