Press Sec Insists White House Being ‘Transparent’ While Dodging Questions on Biden Document Probe

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Friday insisted the White House is being “transparent” about the investigation into classified documents found in President Biden’s personal spaces, while dodging questions from reporters about the situation.

A set of classified records from Biden’s time as vice president were first recovered by Biden’s lawyers on November 2 at the Penn Biden Center, a think tank that served as Biden’s private office from 2017 to 2019, after his time as vice president came to an end.

The White House Counsel’s office then searched Biden’s homes in Delaware this week and discovered “a small number of additional Obama-Biden administration records with classified markings,” the vast majority of which were found in a storage space in Biden’s Wilmington garage, White House lawyers said.

Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the appointment of a special counsel on Thursday to investigate Biden’s handling of classified documents.

Asked during a press briefing whether the White House has an obligation to tell the American people when the existence of classified information is found in a private location, Jean-Pierre gave her now-standard answer: “Again, there is a process in this —”

A reporter interrupted to ask, in the big picture, whether the White House should share that information.

“We have been transparent in the last couple of days, remember there is an ongoing process and we have spoken when it is appropriate,” the press secretary replied.

She later noted that she had been in the briefing room “almost every day” taking questions on the investigation.

“The White House counsel has put out a very extensive multiple statements on this as well,” she said, adding that the actions that Biden’s team took in dealing with the Department of Justice and the National Archives were the “right actions.”

When reporters pointed out the hypocrisy of the White House pretending to be transparent only after news of the documents had broken in the media two months after they were first recovered, Jean-Pierre again claimed there is “an ongoing process” in the works.

“The Department of Justice is independent. We respect that process, but again I have taken questions. I can take two questions, 200 questions. I have answered your questions almost every day on this issue and again anything else you may have, anything that’s related to the review, I would refer you to the Department of Justice.”

She claimed the White House has dealt with the DOJ and the National Archives “in a transparent way” and that the president takes the matter “very, very seriously.”

Yet asked when Biden might speak about the issue, Jean-Pierre replied that she doesn’t have a “magic wand.”

After Jean-Pierre referred reporters to White House counsel Richard Sauber several times, a reporter asked if the press secretary would be willing to invite Sauber to the briefing room to answer questions.

“I would refer you to the White House counsel office,” she replied.

George Washington University Law School professor Jonathan Turley responded to the press briefing in a series of tweets calling Jean-Pierre’s bluff.

“Nothing prevents the White House from answering basic questions about the scandal,” he wrote. “It will not undermine the Justice Department for the White House to confirm the President’s position and recollection. The silence protects the President not the investigation.”

He added: “I can understand the desire of a criminal defense attorney for Biden to remain silent. However, the refusal to answer basic questions is not to protect the ‘independence of the Justice Department’ or the investigation. It meant to protect the President as an individual.”