Report: DOJ won't bother having the FBI monitor Biden lawyers' 'search' for mishandled top-secret documents

The Department of Justice has determined that President Joe Biden's lawyers can be trusted to search his homes for improperly stored classified documents without FBI supervision, insiders told the Wall Street Journal.

This soft and complaisant approach stands in stark contrast to the DOJ's treatment of former President Donald Trump, despite the similarity of the presidents' alleged improprieties.

The FBI raided Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence with guns drawn. When tearing through the property of the former president, the FBI reportedly showed no deference, taking whatever they wanted, including Trump's passport. FBI agents then parsed through the documents seized from former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence for days after the their tactical raid on the premises.

In the case of Biden's potential mishandling of top-secret and classified documents, no guns have been unholstered. No raids have taken place.

According to the Wall Street Journal, sources familiar with the matter indicated that the DOJ has placed its confidence in the supposed honesty of Biden's lawyers because they had allegedly been cooperating and had turned over the first batch of unsecure top-secret documents in short order.

Biden's legal team reportedly discussed the possibility of having FBI agents present while they conducted subsequent searches, but "the two sides agreed" that the lawyers could dig around the president's Delaware properties in Wilmington and Rehoboth Beach, then notify the DOJ if anything turned up.

The New York Post reported that the agreement between Biden's legal team and the DOJ was sealed after the discovery of "intelligence memos and briefing materials" related to Ukraine, Iran, and the United Kingdom in Biden's private office last fall.

CBS News' Weijia Jiang asked White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, "You’ve repeatedly emphasized the need — just as you did today — for independence, for the integrity of the Department of Justice investigation, [which is] one reason why you continue to point us to the DOJ. So I wonder, why then did the White House counsel go to Wilmington to facilitate the handing-over of documents to the DOJ?"

Jean-Pierre noted she appreciated the question, but didn't provide an answer.

Jiang did not relent, however; noting how the White house has repeatedly suggested "how much it is important to this White House to separate the White House from the DOJ’s investigation. ... But the White House counsel was the one to go and facilitate documents, to look for the documents."

The White House press secretary added, "Again, they’ve been working very closely with the Department of Justice."

Biden has reportedly dodged "more aggressive actions by law enforcement" thanks to this "cooperation" between his lawyers and the DOJ.

Law enforcement officials told the Wall Street Journal that what may appear to be the DOJ's deference to the Biden White House may actually be a tactic enabling it to later "take a tougher line, including executing a future search warrant, if negotiations ever turned hostile."

Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) said, "The outrageous double standard of the corrupt DOJ and FBI, which have been weaponized against Joe Biden’s political opponents, could not be more clear."

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) similarly suggested that this amounts to a double standard:

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) wrote to Attorney General Merrick Garland last week, stating, "The double standard here is astounding. The underlying behavior at issue—a President’s retention of old classified documents dating back to a past presidency—is materially the same in both cases."

"But in President Trump’s case, that retention triggered an unprecedented raid on the home of a former president, rationalized with a thicket of partisan doublespeak. President Biden has not experienced anything remotely similar," he added. "Your Department's apparent disparate treatment of these two cases thus far isn't especially surprising, because today's FBI leadership is growing more partisan by the day."

While Biden appears to have the DOJ's cooperation, there are yet some with Democrat affinities who regard the president with disdain, such as Walter Shaub, ethics chief in the Obama administration.

TheBlaze reported that Shaub recently suggested that Biden's "retention of classified records reflects an inexcusable neglect of the most basic security protocols."

A handful of other Democrats including Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), Rep. John Garamendi (D-Calif.), and Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), have suggested that the president's handling of classified documents was shameful, with some calling it "an embarrassment."

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