On Tuesday’s “CNN Newsroom,” White House Communications Director Kate Bedingfield responded to a question about why there is a continued trickle of disclosures regarding President Joe Biden’s handling of classified documents, such as the search of his former think tank office in November by stating that “We have released multiple statements from the White House and President Biden’s personal attorney has released multiple statements over the last month” about the process.
Co-host Victor Blackwell asked, “According to a Justice Department official and another source familiar with the matter, the FBI searched President Biden’s former think tank office in Washington in November after the discovery just before the midterm elections of the documents with the classified markings. Were any additional classified documents found as part of that search?”
Bedingfield answered, “That’s not something I can comment on from here. That’s something you’ll need to ask the Justice Department. What I can say is that we have been cooperative and transparent from the outset. We’ve put out multiple statements from the President’s personal attorney describing the process and being clear that the President takes this seriously, and that he cooperated and will continue to cooperate with the Justice Department in full. And the other thing I would say, while we’re on this topic is, over the weekend, CBS had a poll out that showed that the majority of Americans think that President Biden is handling this well, and we’ve also seen that it hasn’t impacted his approval ratings. Because, while he absolutely takes this seriously and continues to cooperate, he’s also continuing to focus on the things that matter in people’s lives, like visiting the tunnel today that is finally getting those infrastructure dollars after so many years of not being able to get it done.”
Blackwell then asked, “Kate, you’re claiming transparency, but I’m bringing this to you. You aren’t bringing it to me. This happened in mid-November. If you are, indeed, being transparent, why the continued trickle of disclosure around these classified documents?”
Bedingfield responded, “We have released multiple statements from the White House and President Biden’s personal attorney has released multiple statements over the last month walking through the process and agreeing to be fully, fully cooperative with the Justice Department. This is a process that plays out. We are responsive to the Justice Department’s requests. We have been clear from the outset that the President will cooperate with every request the Justice Department has, and we’ve put out multiple statements describing that process.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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