Matthew Whitaker, acting U.S. attorney general during the Trump administration, said the White House has lost control of the narrative surrounding President Joe Biden and the batches of classified materials that were found at a Washington, D.C.-based office and the Biden home in Delaware — including a "locked" garage that housed a Corvette.
"We don't know the [full] extent" of the search for top-secret government documents. "This all started as if [the White House] was looking for something else," Whitaker told Newsmax on Monday while appearing on "American Agenda."
Whitaker also said the White House and Department of Justice might have lost some credibility with the American people by waiting two months to publicly acknowledge the first batch of classified documents being unearthed, which reportedly occurred Nov. 2, six days before the midterm elections.
"Bottom line ... what are the contents of these documents? That's going to tell us everything we need to know," said Whitaker, who also hosts the "Above The Law" podcast. "Were these documents that referenced [son] Hunter Biden, Joe Biden, shady business deals ... or were these some other types of documents that Joe Biden appeared to be hoarding?"
Neither the FBI nor DOJ has signaled a court-approved search of Biden's personal office or Delaware home in the future. That's a stark contrast from when the FBI raided former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in August amid plenty of on-site media attention.
That's particularly concerning for Whitaker, especially since the public doesn't know if the lawyers perusing the classified documents in Biden's possession — dating back to his days as vice president, a position that doesn't hold declassification powers — have special clearance for such a task.
"I think [the people] deserve the same treatment from the FBI. There were no FBI raids or perp walks" in Biden's case, said Whitaker, who admitted that's he's "frustrated with the Department of Justice; and at some point in time, they need to play this fair and square."
As for the White House, Whitaker doesn't anticipate press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre making any more premature statements about the search for classified documents being "complete" — knowing something that definitive could have a limited shelf life of accuracy.
"A lot of this story has been uncontrolled by the White House," said Whitaker, adding that the Biden administration might have expected receiving minimal pushback from the media.
"This certainly doesn't give me a lot of confidence" about being fully transparent, moving forward, added Whitaker.
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