ABC’s “The View” co-host Joy Behar was blasted on Twitter for saying that there were “differences” between President Joe Biden possessing classified documents, instead of “thief” former President Donald Trump.
Biden’s team reportedly discovered 10 classified documents in a locked closet in his private University of Pennsylvania office in Washington D.C., a week prior to the midterm elections.
The public only found out the documents existence on Monday, when CBS News reported that Attorney General Merrick Garland assigned the US Attorney in Chicago to review the sensitive documents.
Meanwhile, Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home was raided by the FBI six months ago, where agents seized boxes full of presidential documents, and may be prosecuted for possessing them.
According to “The View’s” liberal co-host, there’s a distinction between Biden and Trump keeping classified documents, despite the similar situation.
“There are differences in what happened. Well, we all know that Trump is a liar and a thief,” Behar remarked.
“It’s not that big a jump to say he obstructed and he lied. We don’t think Biden is a liar and a thief, so we give him the benefit of the doubt.”
Behar was trashed online for making the comparison. “To quote the great philosopher [Tim J. Dillon]: There are so many brilliant women out there. *None* of them are on The View,” someone tweeted on Tuesday.
“Joy Behar is proof that you can put lipstick on a pig, but it will still just be a pig,” posted James Bradley.
“So basically the view will give you a pass on treason as long as there’s a (D) next to your name. Not surprised from such an upstanding and trustworthy group of people,” someone wrote.
“And people still say Joy Behar isn’t funny,” another person added.
Ironically, Biden has to eat his words about Trump being “totally irresponsible” for keeping presidential documents.
“How that could possibly happen. How one – anyone could be that irresponsible. And I thought, ‘What data was in there that may compromise sources and methods?’” He told “60 Minutes” in September.
“By that I mean, names of people who helped or… et cetera. And it just – totally irresponsible.”
On Tuesday, co-host Sunny Hostin said that comparing the situations is like “comparing apples to orangutans.”
“Facts matter. And let’s not talk about alternative facts,” Hostin argued.
“Let’s talk about the fact that Donald Trump was asked to return the documents voluntarily, refused, then refused several subpoenas, kept [documents] in toilets, and kept them not in a locked place, and kept them on the floor. Anybody could have had access.”
“He had top secret classified information, including things that would have put people’s lives in danger, including nuclear documents, and there were 300 documents found!” She continued.
“So I think you cannot compare one to the other,” Hostin charged. “That’s like comparing apples to orangutans, OK? Clearly different.”
Garland’s investigation certainly faces hurdles after the delayed document reveal.
Attempting to prosecute a former president, who already accused him of running a politically motivated Department of Justice is a headache.
Prosecuting a presidential candidate on obstruction of justice or violations of the Espionage Act, when the current president was caught doing the same thing is a nightmare.
Former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani said that “it changes everything.”
“Garland is going to have a tough time explaining to the American people why it’s a crime for Trump to take classified material, but not Biden,” she told Newsweek.
“The View” co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin agrees that Garland faces an uphill battle because of the Biden classified document reveal.
“Absolutely no one’s going to like this take, but I’m going to go there anyway,” she began. “I want to be clear the facts are different then the Trump case, however I think this is a huge win for Trump.”
“If you’re Merrick Garland — who is already extremely cautious and doesn’t want to break the long-standing precedent of not indicting a president — it’s very hard to make the case that Donald Trump should be indicted for this,” the former Trump aide continued.
“Even though the facts are different, when [Trump] can argue ‘Well, now the Vice President also took home classified documents.’ I think that this kills the case.”
Biden said he was “surprised” to learn about the documents in his former office, but that his lawyers were “cooperating fully” with Garland’s review.
“People know I take classified documents and classified information seriously,” he said at a Tuesday press conference.
“I was briefed about this discovery and surprised to learn that there were any government records that were taken there to that office.”
“But I don’t know what’s in the documents. My lawyers have not suggested I ask what they were,” Biden summed up.