I wrote the other day about George Washington law professor Jonathan Turley’s take on the latest Trump indictment, and how Special Counsel Jack Smith’s approach in it could backfire on Joe Biden.
Turley made the point that Smith was trying to criminalize political “lies” but if they wanted to do that, Biden would be in a great deal of trouble, particularly when it comes to an impeachment inquiry.
Biden surely knew his denials of knowledge and interactions were untrue, even as his aides misinformed the public and as congressional and federal investigations occurred.
Now, according to special counsel Smith, such knowing lies can be criminal matters, at least in the case of Donald Trump. For Congress, it could also trigger impeachment inquiries in the case of Joe Biden — and that would make this very personal indeed.
Now Turley is pointing to the explosive exchange that Fox’s Peter Doocy had with Joe Biden, and how the White House followed that up almost immediately by trying to spin the situation and clean up what Joe Biden said. So, that means that Joe Biden has his staff spinning cover over the scandal. It also should be noted that the White House essentially admitted to the calls with the business associates, although denying that “business” was spoken — yet another shifting of the goalposts.
Biden snapped at Peter Doocy yesterday for asking about his roughly 20 speakerphone calls to dinners or meetings with his son’s foreign associates. However, in my view, what was most interesting is what came next…
— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) August 10, 2023
…Doocy said that the White House called him as soon as he made it to his car to refute the specifics of the allegations on discussing business. The use of White House staff to repeat these positions could magnify the problems for Biden. https://t.co/30HRB1CDFX
— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) August 10, 2023
Turley explained while citing his prior remarks:
Doocy said that the White House called him as soon as he made it to his car to refute the specifics of the allegations on discussing business. The use of White House staff to repeat these positions could magnify the problems for Biden.
And obviously, it shows how nervous they are getting now that all of this is coming out. It’s also why Joe’s handler did all she could to drag Biden away from Doocy.
As Doocy said, the Biden team doesn’t want people talking about this. But the problem is Biden was the brand, as Devon Archer said, and it’s “categorically false” that Biden wasn’t involved. The Biden team can spin, but the facts are getting in their way.
Trying to cut off media at the pass also has a stink-like obstruction and misuse of White House staff, in my opinion. As the Republicans are looking into the question of the impeachment inquiry, they should consider having a count as to the use of staff/White House/administration resources to block inquiries from the media of Congress.
Here’s another instance, where they’re throwing the National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications, John Kirby out there to deal with questions from Fox’s Martha MacCallum.
.@marthamaccallum: “When will the president actually answer some of these questions to put some of this to rest himself?”
JOHN KIRBY: “Oh my goodness, Martha! I mean, he just did with Peter [Doocy!] … He answered that question!”
MARTHA: “He didn’t answer whether or not he was… pic.twitter.com/6RJzM6rj3U
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) August 10, 2023
What a bunch of malarkey, and MacCallum wasn’t having it. No, continually saying something is not true is not the same as answering the question. The access is the business. Or in the words of Devon Archer, “The prize is that contact and the access to power.”
