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☆ The Secret Service may reveal the names of people unofficially vetted when they visited Biden's Delaware home, a report says
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-21 | by ( Alia Shoaib | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Fox News said that the Secret Service is willing to give Congress a list of visitors to Biden's home if asked. "Like every president in decades of modern history, his personal residence is personal," the White House Counsel's Office said on Monday. Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi similarly told reporters that the agency does not keep visitor logs for private residences. If the agency did give up records of Biden's visitors to Congress, it would mark a different approach during Trump's presidency. While no official records are kept, the way they are for White House visitors, there are electronic reports that are generated and kept.

☆ White House aides were reportedly blindsided by AG Garland's appointment of a special counsel to investigate Biden
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-19 | by ( Sonam Sheth | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Many in the White House were blindsided when AG Garland appointed a special counsel to investigate Biden, WaPo reported. The GOP has accused the special counsel Robert Hur of being partisan, but a former Trump lawyer disagreed, saying he's "smart and experienced." That's why many in the White House were blindsided, according to The Washington Post, when Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed a special counsel to investigate Biden's mishandling of classified information. Republicans and Democrats alike have criticized the Biden White House for failing to disclose the existence of the DOJ's investigation for two months, despite having known about it since November. But Ty Cobb, who once served as Trump's White House counsel, dismissed those concerns.

☆ Americans see Biden's handling of classified docs as inappropriate — but not criminal, poll shows
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( Kevin Breuninger | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

The survey also found Biden's job approval among Americans sliding further into the red. But a plurality of Americans, 46% to 37%, do not think Biden should face criminal charges over the mishandling of those documents, Quinnipiac found. "Roughly two-thirds of Americans are aware of and troubled by the misplaced classified documents found in President Biden's home and private office. The questions about the classified documents had a margin of error of plus-or-minus 2.6 percentage points. For questions not related to Biden's handling of classified documents, Quinnipiac surveyed 1,659 adults between Wednesday and Sunday.

Aides previously found another batch of classified documents at his residence, and at a Washington think tank where he had an office after his time as vice president in the Obama administration. The White House has largely been on the defensive since the initial revelations that the documents had been found. The department is separately probing Trump's handling of highly sensitive classified documents that he retained at his Florida resort after leaving the White House in January 2021. Sams said the White House had received a "few letters" from the Republican-led House Oversight Committee on the issue, is reviewing them and will make a determination about its response in due course. The White House reiterated on Tuesday Biden's commitment to cooperating with the Justice Department’s investigation.

☆ There's a simple reason Biden didn't keep visitor logs at the Delaware home where he held classified documents — it's not an official residence
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-17 | by ( Tom Porter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The White House said there are no visitor logs for Joe Biden's Delaware home. Biden is facing criticism after classified documents from his time as VP were found there. It is not standard for visitor logs to be kept at a president's private residence, the WH said. The White house counsel office said that it is not standard for presidents to keep visitor logs at private residences. Visitor logs are kept at the White House.

☆ Biden is 'fully cooperating' with DOJ probe of his handling of classified documents, White House says
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-17 | by ( Emma Kinery | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

The White House disclosed Saturday that Biden's lawyers turned over new classified documents that were discovered at Biden's Delaware home. Last week the White House disclosed that classified government documents from the Obama administration were found in Biden's possession on four separate occasions. Though the documents were found on Nov. 2, the White House did not make the news public until last Monday. Other classified documents were found in Biden's possession at other locations in searches on Dec. 20, Jan. 12 and Jan. 14, according to the White House. Trump is the focus of a criminal probe by the DOJ for his removal of the records from the White House in January 2021.

"Like every President across decades of modern history, his personal residence is personal," the White House Counsel's office said in a statement. The Secret Service, which is tasked with protecting current and past presidents and their families, does not "independently maintain our own visitor logs because it’s a private residence," agency spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said. The Republican chairman of the House of Representatives Oversight Committee, James Comer,on Sunday demanded visitor logs for Democrat Biden's house in Wilmington after classified documents were found in his office and garage there. Democrats have unsuccessfully sought visitor logs for Trump's Florida home for years. Biden restored the tradition of keeping White House visitors logs, including publishing them regularly, after the Trump administration ended doing that, the White House counsel noted in Monday's statement.

WASHINGTON, Jan 16 (Reuters) - No visitor logs exist for President Joe Biden's home in Wilmington, Delaware, where classified documents from his vice presidential days were found, as it is a private residence, the White House Counsel's office said on Monday. But upon taking office, President Biden restored the norm and tradition of keeping White House visitors logs, including publishing them regularly, after the previous administration ended them," the White House Counsel's office said in a statement. Biden's Republican predecessor, Donald Trump, declined to release logs of visitors to the White House during his four years in office, in a break with prior norms. The Republican chairman of the House of Representatives Oversight Committee on Sunday demanded visitor logs for Democrat Biden's house in Wilmington after classified documents were found in his office and garage. The White House says Biden's team has turned over the documents it found.

More classified documents from the Obama administration were found in President Joe Biden’s Delaware residence this week — in addition to the two batches that were previously disclosed — the White House said Saturday. The newest set of pages were discovered by White House lawyer Richard Sauber on Thursday in a box initially uncovered by the president's personal lawyers on Wednesday. The White House revealed earlier this week that Biden's lawyers had discovered one document with classified markings in a room adjacent to the garage of his Delaware home. "The President’s personal attorneys discovered one document with a classified marking consisting of one page in a room adjacent to the garage. At that point, the President’s personal attorneys stopped searching the immediate area where the document was found," Sauber said.

☆ Biden aides have discovered more pages of Obama-era classified documents at the president's Wilmington residence, White House says
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-14 | by ( John L. Dorman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

More Obama-era classified documents were found at President Biden's Wilmington home, per The Times. The White House on Saturday announced that five additional pages were found on Thursday. "The President's lawyers have acted immediately and voluntarily to provide the Penn Biden documents to the Archives and the Wilmington documents to DOJ. The appointment of the Special Counsel in this matter this week means we will now refer specific questions to the Special Counsel's office moving forward. As I said Thursday, the White House will cooperate with the newly-appointed Special Counsel," the statement read.

☆ Robert Hur: special counsel on Biden classified document probe
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-13 | by ( Kanishka Singh | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Michael A. McCoyWASHINGTON, Jan 13 (Reuters) - U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland on Thursday named Robert Hur as special counsel to investigate whether President Joe Biden had improperly handled sensitive government documents. Hur was the U.S. attorney in Maryland during the Trump administration and most recently served as litigation partner at law firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. A graduate of Stanford Law School and Harvard College, Hur served as top aide to then-Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein before his appointment as the U.S. Attorney in Maryland. He knows what he is getting into," Rosenstein told CNN on Thursday after Hur's appointment as special counsel. "I will conduct the assigned investigation with fair, impartial, and dispassionate judgment," Hur said in a statement released after his appointment as special counsel.

[1/2] U.S. President Joe Biden departs the White House to board the Marine One helicopter for travel to Delaware from the White House in Washington, U.S. January 13, 2023. The White House has said the documents were "inadvertently misplaced" and that it is cooperating fully but has declined to respond to detailed questions on the investigation. While working as the Obama campaign's general counsel in 2008, Bauer helped vet Biden as Obama's pick for vice president. He is married to Anita Dunn, another Biden confidant and senior White House adviser. Bauer will now work with White House lawyers as Biden responds to the special counsel's investigation.

☆ Biden's mishandling of classified records isn't as legally perilous as Trump's, but may pose serious national security risks
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-11 | by ( Sonam Sheth | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

Trump's former White House lawyer told Insider that AG Garland should appoint a special counsel to investigate Biden. A source familiar with the matter told CNN that Lausch has finished the initial part of his investigation and presented his preliminary findings to Garland. Still, he criticized the White House for waiting more than two months to disclose the existence of the inquiry. "It appears that at least two of the aggravating factors, obstruction and willfulness, are present in the Trump case, but absent in the Biden case." Cobb, Trump's former White House counsel, went further, saying that drawing a distinction between the two cases is akin to "putting lipstick on a pig."

☆ Biden's aides discovered a second batch of classified documents at another location, report says
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-11 | by ( Sonam Sheth | Nicole Gaudiano | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Biden's aides discovered another batch of classified docs at a second location, NBC News reported. They've been conducting an exhaustive search for additional documents since first discovering what the White House described as a "small" batch at Biden's old office in November. Biden's team notified the National Archives and turned the documents over, and they're cooperating with a DOJ investigation into the matter, the White House said. "He takes classified documents very seriously." Fox News' Peter Doocy pointed to Biden calling Trump's retention of classified documents "totally irresponsible" and asked, "How can President Biden be trusted moving forward with America's secrets?"

While there is still much that is not known about the Biden documents, there are key differences between the two cases — as well as some similarities. Court papers show officials found classified documents in 14 of the 15 boxes, including 25 that were marked top secret. Justice Department investigationIn both cases, the Archives reported the discovery of classified documents to the Department of Justice. The FBI then learned Trump had not fully complied with the subpoena and still had more classified documents. McQuade posted on Twitter that the Justice Department prosecutes the mishandling of classified documents when there is an aggravating factor present.

☆ There's a key difference between the classified documents found at a former Biden office and the ones Trump kept at Mar-a-Lago, national security expert says
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-10 | by ( Charles R. Davis | Erin Snodgrass | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

CBS News reported Monday that classified documents were found at an office used by President Biden. In a statement, Richard Sauber, special counsel to President Biden, said the White House is cooperating with the National Archives and the Justice Department on the matter. He contrasted what we know about the case with that being built against Trump, who held boxes of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago resort even after their return had been demanded by the National Archives. "When you find improperly stored classified documents, you immediately notify the government — and you turn it over immediately." "The reason Donald Trump is in criminal jeopardy right now isn't just because of the documents being improperly stored.

☆ Biden classified documents: White House won't say why it didn't disclose earlier that records were found
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-10 | by ( Dan Mangan | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

U.S. President Joe Biden shakes hands with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during a bilateral meeting at the North American Leaders' Summit in Mexico City, Mexico, January 10, 2023. "Why didn't the 'Justice' Department announce the Highly Classified documents found in the Biden Office before the Election?" Trump wrote in a post on his social media site, Truth Social. U.S. President Joe Biden attends a news conference at Waldorf Astoria in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia July 15, 2022. Evelyn Hockstein | Reuters"This discovery of classified information would put President Biden in potential violation of laws protecting national security, including the Espionage Act and Presidential Records Act," Turner wrote.

☆ How Anti-Abortion Activists Bought Access to the Supreme Court
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-07 | by ( Katherine Long | Jack Newsham | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +29 min

In exchange for as little as a few thousand dollars in contributions to the nonprofit, these people received easy access to events where Supreme Court justices would be. Supreme Court Historical society trustee Jay Sekulow, center, represented President Trump during the latter's impeachment trial in 2020. Anti-abortion advocates cheer in front of the Supreme Court after the decision in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores was announced in 2014. Alito did not respond to a request for comment on his involvement in the Supreme Court Historical Society. Supreme Court justices, though, aren't even required to stay within those weak guardrails because no code of ethics governs justices' behavior.

☆ 'Fearless' Special Counsel Jack Smith arrives in Washington to lead Trump probes
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-04 | by ( Sarah N. Lynch | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Smith in November to take over two investigations involving Trump, who is running for president in 2024. Grand juries in Washington have been hearing testimony in recent months for both investigations from many former top Trump administration officials. In 1999, Smith started working at the U.S. Attorney's Office in Brooklyn. In 2008, Smith left to supervise war crime prosecutions at the International Criminal Court in The Hague. Smith is also known for being expeditious, and Fodeman predicted the special counsel's investigations involving Trump will probably move swiftly.

☆ Document: Report on the I.R.S. Mandatory Audit Program for Presidents
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-21 | by ( ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +4 min

The IRS only opened one mandatory examination from 2017 to 2020 for returns filed while the former President was in office. Despite knowledge of an ongoing Congressional investigation and the Manual, no priority was given to the mandatory audit program by the prior Administration. Tax Years that Should Have Been Included in the Mandatory Audit Program. The designated agents identified five tax years (2015-2019) that should have been examined under the mandatory audit program based on the dates in the IRS transcripts that the Forms 1040 were filed. The designated agents were not able to determine whether tax year 2020 was part of the mandatory audit program.

☆ Top government ethics officer was late disclosing his personal finances on multiple occasions
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-20 | by ( Kimberly Leonard | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

The attorney, Office of Government Ethics General Counsel David Apol, missed deadlines to report at least 12 different bond transactions since 2015. Improperly reporting purchases and sales of bonds or stocks is a violation of the 2012 Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act, or STOCK Act. Officials are only required to report transactions in broad ranges. Democratic Rep. Abigail Spanberger of Virginia has been one of the lead proponents in Congress of reforming the STOCK Act. Congress this year discussed changes to the STOCK Act and the US House even held a hearing following the publication of "Conflicted Congress."

☆ Hope Hicks was once one of Trump's closest confidantes. Less than 2 years later, she testified that her former boss told her that no one would care about his legacy if he lost the 2020 election.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-19 | by ( Rebecca Harrington | Ellen Cranley | Charles R. Davis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Hope Hicks, 34, was one of President Donald Trump's most trusted advisers. Hicks resigned from the White House on January 12, 2021, but told people it was a planned departure. She was one of the few White House aides who told Trump he lost the 2020 election. Before testifying in the investigation launched against her former boss' involvement in the Capitol riots, Hicks was the youngest White House communications director in history. She later rejoined the Trump White House as a counselor to the president, reporting to senior adviser and Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner.

REUTERS/Dante Carrer/File PhotoNASSAU, Dec 13 (Reuters) - Cordoned-off roads, a sweltering courtroom and numerous delays marked Sam Bankman-Fried's first in-person public appearance since his crypto company collapsed. The Bahamas courtroom hearing, conducted over the course of six hours, saw Bankman-Fried, dressed in a suit rather than his typical t-shirt attire, seeking bail to dispute his extradition to the U.S. "I'm not waiving," Bankman-Fried said when asked if he would seek to waive his right to an extradition hearing. At the start of the proceedings, Bankman-Fried asked to change an Emsam patch, a medical strip applied to the skin that is used to treat adult depression. Bankman-Fried's defense counsel pointed out that Bankman-Fried had spent weeks in The Bahamas after his business collapsed without attempting to leave the country.

☆ House Republicans are going after Hunter Biden. Here's why the White House should be worried.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-18 | by ( Mattathias Schwartz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

The new GOP House majority will likely subpoena Hunter Biden as they dig into his business dealings. The career of Hunter Biden, on the other hand, has all the earmarks of a real one. Nor will it protect the Biden White House from potential fallout stemming from the Justice Department's own criminal investigation of Hunter Biden, which is ongoing. During Joe Biden's vice presidency, Hunter Biden was openly trading on the Biden family name. A lawyer for Hunter Biden did not respond to Insider's request for comment Friday about the looming possibility of a congressional inquiry.

A White House statement accused House Republicans of planning to go after Biden "with politically motivated attacks chock full of long-debunked conspiracy theories." Hunter Biden never held a position in the White House or on his father's campaign. The House Republicans' probe will begin to unfold next year, as the U.S. political calendar heads toward the 2024 presidential election, in which Biden said he currently intends to seek re-election. More than a dozen House Republicans appeared alongside Comer at a Wednesday press conference, many of them staunch allies of Trump, who announced his own 2024 White House run on Tuesday. The looming House Oversight investigation of Biden will coincide with a House Judiciary Committee probe into allegations of political influence at the Justice Department under Biden.

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