Democratic Senator Admits Biden Documents Scandal 'Certainly Embarrassing'

Senator Debbie Stabenow, a Michigan Democrat, said Sunday that it's "certainly embarrassing" for President Joe Biden to have to deal with classified documents being discovered at his home and his former office.

Stabenow appeared on NBC's Meet the Press and spoke about Biden's situation involving the documents. When asked if Biden has to "eat his words" after he previously said former President Donald Trump was "careless" with the way he handled his own classified documents when he left office in 2021, Stabenow responded, "Well it's certainly embarrassing, right?"

"It's embarrassing that you would find a small number of documents certainly not on purpose; they don't think it's the right thing. And they have been moving to correct it, working with the Department of Justice (DOJ), working with everyone involved, with the Archives. And so, from my perspective it is one of those moments that obviously they wish hadn't happened," the Democratic senator said.

Stabenow continued: "...This is the kind of thing that the Republicans love. We just heard it from my colleague Senator [Ron] Johnson. 'Let's talk about investigations, let's create chaos.' Let's not talk about the fact that we have a manufacturing renaissance going on in this country."

Biden is facing intense criticism after it was reported that classified documents were found at his Wilmington, Delaware, home, and at his former office at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement think tank in Washington, D.C.

The classified documents found last Wednesday at Biden's home were in a locked garage. Meanwhile, an earlier batch of confidential records was found before the midterm elections on November 2, 2022, by Biden's attorneys in his former office at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement think tank in Washington, D.C.

The records initially discovered in the office contained 10 classified documents, including materials related to U.S. intelligence and memos about Ukraine, Iran, and the United Kingdom, CNN reported.

The White House said Biden's lawyers at the time alerted the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) promptly when the documents were discovered. According to The Hill, the White House did not disclose the findings until after it was reported by CBS News early last week.

Following the initial revelation, the Associated Press reported on Saturday that lawyers for Biden announced five more classified documents were found in the president's Delaware home. Previously, the White House had announced that only one document was found at the residence.

"While I was transferring it to the DOJ officials who accompanied me, five additional pages with classification markings were discovered among the material with it, for a total of six pages. The DOJ officials with me immediately took possession of them," White House lawyer Richard Sauber said in a statement.

Political analyst Craig Agranoff told Newsweek on Sunday, "I think this might show many of his [Biden] strongest supporters that he is not flawless and perhaps further show some indication he is a little out of touch."

Agranoff added: "Seeing what happened to former President Trump for the same issue, and publicly chastising him for having classified documents, should have made him realize he should have given them back. This is a political black eye for Democrats when they were gaining some traction and it makes Biden appear like a hypocrite."

The political analyst concluded that this is "a gift for the Republicans" who wonder why Biden's house has not been "raided" by the FBI, like Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate was last summer.

Trump is also being investigated by the DOJ for keeping hundreds of highly classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida. The documents reportedly included classified materials regarding nuclear weapons, and were taken by the FBI during a raid at Trump's residence last August that Garland approved. Trump has maintained his innocence, however, and said that he declassified the documents before leaving the White House.