Special counsels at the Department of Justice should treat equally President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump as they investigate their possession of classified documents at Biden’s Washington office and home in Delaware and Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort home, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said on Tuesday.
McConnell warned federal prosecutors to apply the same set of standards to both investigations, sticking up for the former Republican president, although there was an ongoing feud between him and Trump over the past two years.
The Senate GOP leader pointed out that what’s good for one candidate for president ought to be good for another one, stressing that, in his opinion, the important thing with regard to the mishandling of confidential documents is that both Trump and Biden ought to be treated exactly the same way, noting that the Attorney General Merrick Garland probably did the right thing by having two special counsels.
After he appointed back in November Special Counsel Jack Smith to oversee the Justice Department’s investigations of Trump – including his possession of over 300 classified documents at Mar-a-Lago – Garland appointed last week the former U.S. attorney for District of Maryland, Robert Hur, as special counsel overseeing the investigation of classified documents found at Biden’s private office at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement in Washington, D.C., and at the garage at Biden’s home in Wilmington, Delaware.
While Biden promised complete cooperation with the DoJ and the investigation, Trump, on the other hand, dismissed Smith as a political hitman, accusing the Justice Department of acting out of political motivation and calling its investigation of him rigged.
Last week, several prominent Republicans – including Sens. Lindsey Graham and Josh Hawley- called on Garland to appoint a special counsel to investigate Biden’s mishandling of classified documents, arguing that the failure to do so would mean setting a double standard for the former president and sitting president.
Meanwhile, Senate Democrats have remained quiet on the subject although Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner has called for his panel to receive a briefing on the documents kept at Biden’s office and residence, which Biden allegedly was not aware of before they were discovered late last year.
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