We learned Tuesday that a lawyer for former Vice President Mike Pence had reportedly found some classified documents in Pence’s Indiana home a week ago and upon discovery, turned them over to the FBI. They, along with Biden’s DOJ, have, in turn, initiated a review of the documents.
Though Pence stated two months ago that he did not take any classified documents from the White House and made similar comments just a couple of weeks ago, he is the one who is said to have recently asked his legal team to conduct the search of his home, allegedly “out of an abundance of caution” in light of the Joe Biden classified documents scandal.
Naturally, some of the same media figures who went quiet after the news broke Saturday about even more classified documents being found at Joe Biden’s home jumped on the news about the Pence documents as a way to absolve Biden – but not former President Donald Trump.
MSNBC, of course, led the way, with “All In” host Chris Hayes stating that “Those circumstances highlighted in that letter [from Pence’s lawyer Greg Jacob] sound remarkably similar to the situation with President Joe Biden.” Hayes also went “all in” on the “inadvertent” theme being pushed by Biden’s legal team, insinuating without evidence that in both Biden’s and Pence’s respective cases, it was obvious the taking of classified documents was not an intentional act:
Rachel Maddow show producer Steve Benen was on the same wavelength:
“It’s important to emphasize that there’s no reason to assume that the former vice president was lying when he said last summer that he hadn’t taken any classified materials when he left office. In fact, it’s fairly easy to believe that Pence simply didn’t know, and the documents were removed accidentally.In other words, despite recent GOP hysterics about President Joe Biden, the most likely explanation is that Biden and Pence both inadvertently took documents upon leaving office.”
“Morning Joe” co-host Joe Scarborough used the Pence news to proclaim that both Biden’s and Pence’s situations were similar, and stood in glaring contrast to how Trump allegedly handled classified documents:
“Deadline White House” anchor Nicolle Wallace declared that if Biden was going to be investigated for “voluntarily” turning over documents including those he’s had since his time in the Senate, Pence better be, too:
CNN legal analysts also went with the “accidental/this is different from what Trump did” talking points related to Pence and Biden:
Good grief. They are nothing if not predictable, aren’t they?
— Stacey Matthews has also written under the pseudonym “Sister Toldjah” and can be reached via Twitter. —
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