The President of the United States, Joseph Biden
Photo: REUTERS
In the United States, a very popular activity among the people is an action called “garage sale.” This is when various household items, usually lying around in a garage, are put up for sale right at the doorstep for all at bargain prices. And get rid of the junk and earn extra money. It happens that there you can buy quite old gizmos and even rarities.
US President Joseph Biden also kept a lot of interesting things in the garage of his home in Wilmington, Delaware. For example, his favorite car is a 1967 Chevrolet Corvette convertible, received from his father as a wedding gift. But, apparently, old Joe had completely forgotten that a far more valuable treasure lay nearby in worn-out cardboard boxes. So valuable that it can cost the owner of the White House dearly. And he has already been put up for virtual political sale by the opponents of the current president, the Republicans. We are talking about a dozen secret documents under a very serious signature stamp related to the times when Biden was the second person in the state under Barack Obama. These are US intelligence reports and analytical reviews on Ukraine, Iran and Great Britain. The information contained in them in many respects has not lost its relevance so far and, incidentally, therefore has not been declassified.
The documents were discovered by Biden aides and rushed to transfer them to the National Archives. But journalists who found out about this at one of the events attacked the president with questions: how could this happen? Biden responded brilliantly, as perhaps only he can. “But the garage was closed,” he said. “They were locked in there with my Chevrolet Corvette. This does not mean that they were lying on the street. People know that I take classified material seriously.”
What is spicy about the situation is that this was the second time in a week that the American leader made a mistake by forgetting important documents. A batch of papers with huge red “Top Secret” stamps on each page had previously been found in Biden’s cabinet closet at the Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement, which he has used since he left the vice presidency. But Biden claims that he knows nothing about these papers and doesn’t remember how they ended up there.
It should be noted that in 2022, FBI agents broke into the Florida property of former US President Donald Trump Mar-a-Lago, searched it and also found secret documents that were not deposited. Both politicians will run in the 2024 presidential election. But Trump now faces criminal prosecution and Biden, as president, remains an untouchable figure.
But the Republicans do not intend to forgive him anything. The Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy, has called on Congress to investigate the presence of classified documents in Biden’s garage and office. The Republican majority in the House may impeach the president. It is true that, of course, it will be blocked by the Senate, where the Democrats have the same majority. But in public opinion, the reputation of Biden, whose rating is no longer very high, will further deteriorate. And it will be a very woeful start to his electoral career.
