CNS Continues Hyping Biden’s Classified Documents — But Barely Mentioned Pence’s

Posted on February 19, 2023

CNSNews.com went into its second week of covering the discovery of classified documents in locations used by Joe Biden in between his stints as vice president and president the way it covered the first week — with lots of attacks on Biden:

And, as in the first week, there were significantly fewer articles that focused on Biden’s side of the story:

There was also a Jan. 24 column by Daily Signal writer Fred Lucas — a former CNS reporter — complaining that the National Archives “declined to answer whether anyone told the agency not to notify the public or Congress about the classified documents that were found to have been stored at the Penn Biden Center before the 2022 midterm elections in November” though it “issued 10 separate statements from January to December regarding documents it has not received from former President Donald Trump..” He didn’t mention that Biden has apparently been cooperative through the entire process while Trump has been antagonistic and deceitful.

But when classified documents were discovered at former Vice President Mike Pence’s home in Indiana, CNS’ tone changed drastically from how it treated Biden. Melanie Arter blandly wrote about it in a Jan. 24 article:

Former Vice President Mike Pence notified the National Archives last Wednesday that a small batch of classified documents were found last week at his residence in Indiana.

According to Pence’s lawyer, the documents were “inadvertently boxed and transported” to Pence’s home at the end of the Trump administration, and the former vice president was “unaware of the existence of sensitive or classified documents at his personal residence.”

You will not be surprised to learn that CNS did not publish article after article of Democrats criticizing Pence’s recklessness in harboring classified documents or fret about the national security implications. Instead, a Jan. 25 article by Susan Jones complained that the Pence discovery got Biden off the hook and showed a “systemic” issue:

Revelations that another vice president — Mike Pence — had classified documents at his home in Indiana is taking some of the media heat off former Vice President and now President Joe Biden — just as the discovery of classified documents in Biden’s possession took some of heat off former President Donald Trump.

“So now this appears systemic,” Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), now a former member of the House intelligence committee, told MSNBC on Tuesday as the news about Pence broke while he was being interviewed.

“It certainly appears now that there’s a systemic problem with former occupants of the presidency and vice presidency having classified information at their homes, when it shouldn’t be there; or at their libraries or their university repositories,” Schiff told host Andrea Mitchell.

That was followed by a Jan. 26 article by Craig Bannister noting that “the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) formally asked the presidents and vice presidents of the last six administrations to re-check their personal records for any classified documents or presidential records they may “inadvertently” have in their possession.”

There was also a Jan. 25 article by Jones featuring Republican Sen. Marco Rubio quipping that “I think the executive branch needs to hire better movers” while referencing document issues involving Trump and Biden — but not mentioning Pence.

But, really, CNS wanted to get back to keeping the classified-document focus on Biden. A Jan. 25 article by Jones stated:

“We’re investigating the Biden family for influence-peddling,” Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) said on Wednesday, as the discovery of classified documents in the home of former Vice President Mike Pence home prompted media defenders of Joe Biden to describe the problem as “systemic.”

More followed:

Because why let the facts get in the way of a partisan narrative?