Rep. Dan Goldman, DN.Y., who previously served as the House impeachment attorney against former President Donald Trump, praised the Biden administration for how it has been handling the issue of classified documents in the president’s home. Biden, in contrast to a similar issue involving Trump.
Last week, Goldman had said that a special counsel would not need to be appointed in Biden’s case, but now that Robert Hur has assumed that role, Goldman has supported the decision.
“I don’t think it was a mistake. I don’t think any of us have a good understanding of the information the attorney general had when he decided to appoint Mr. Hur as special counsel,” Goldman told “Face the Nation” host Margaret Brennan. in a CBS interview. “But I do think that it is a really important fact that is being overlooked here, which is that this administration is doing the letter thing. There is a division and a separation between the Department of Justice and the White House that certainly did not exist in the last administration.”
Goldman elaborated, noting that the Biden team has reached out to the Department of Justice and the National Archives and said that they “have done everything they can to cooperate.” Goldman said this is “in direct contrast to what former President Trump has done, where he has obstructed justice at every turn.”
JIM JORDAN LAUNCHES FIRST INVESTIGATION AS CHIEF JUDICIAL INTO BIDEN CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS SCANDAL
UNITED STATES – JANUARY 12: Rep. Dan Goldman, DN.Y., speaks to reporters about Rep. George Santos on the House steps after the vote on Thursday, Jan. 12, 2023. (Bill Clark/CQ- Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
(Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home was raided by the FBI last year and federal authorities recovered classified documents from the facility. Trump and his team claimed that the former president had been working with the National Archives before the raid.
JUSTICE DEPARTMENT ‘PLAYING POLITICS’ WITH TRUMP FORCED AG GARLAND’S HAND IN BIDENN DOCS, SAYS ANDY MCCARTHY
Brennan asked Goldman about an op-ed he wrote last year about the Trump raid, in which he outlined four criteria for assessing the situation. These included whether there was an intent to distribute the materials, clear knowledge of the importance of the documents, the volume of the material, and whether anyone lied to the investigators. Goldman said these same criteria should “absolutely” apply to Biden.
Despite acknowledging earlier in the interview that he did not have all the information that Attorney General Merrick Garland had when he named Hur, Goldman expressed confidence that Biden is clear on his investigative criteria.
“I think those four factors apply to President Trump, and none of them apply to President Biden,” Goldman said.
One question Goldman had no answer to was why Biden’s personal attorneys, who did not have security clearance, were searching his home for classified documents.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
I’m not sure. And we don’t know the circumstances of that,” the former federal prosecutor said. “But certainly the documents come out of the vice president’s office and have to be stored somewhere. I hope we find more information about it.”
Goldman, however, cited a statement from Biden’s personal attorney Bob Bauer as saying it showed Biden’s team is “playing everything by the book.”