Newsmax Obsessed Over Biden Classified Documents

Newsmax aggressively defended Donald Trump following the FBI raid on his Mar-a-Lago estate to retrieve classified documents he stole (after months of refusal to cooperate on the matter). So when it was revealed that classified documents were found at properties used by Joe Biden after his vice presidency but before he became president, Newsmax unsurprisingly went all in on attacking him. Here are some of the articles it published just in the first week of the story:

• Trump: ‘When Is FBI Going to Raid’ Biden’s ‘Many Homes?’
• Rep. Biggs Calls for Probe of ‘Compromised’ Jill Biden
• McCarthy: Dems ‘Overplayed Their Hand’ on Trump Documents
• Rep. Comer to Newsmax: Biden ‘Continues Pattern of Not Being Transparent’
• Rep. Meuser to Newsmax: ‘Equitable Treatment’ Needed in Biden Papers
• Rep. Miller to Newsmax: ‘I Don’t Trust’ AG Investigating Classified Biden Docs
• Fred Fleitz to Newsmax: Biden Docs ‘Much Worse’ Than Mar-a-Lago
• Senate Intel Committee Chair Warner Wants Briefing on Biden Documents
• Bolton to Newsmax: ‘Close to Impossible’ to Prosecute Trump Over Docs Now
• Dershowitz to Newsmax: ‘Absolutely Confident’ Trump Won’t Be Indicted on Docs
• Megyn Kelly to Newsmax: Docs Discovery Hurts Biden Politically
• Rep. Miller-Meeks to Newsmax: Biden Had No Declassification Powers as VP (actually, he did)
• Fred Fleitz to Newsmax: Biden’s Document Stash Wasn’t an ‘Accident’
• Devin Nunes to Newsmax: Many Questions About Biden Docs Timing
• Rep. Wittman to Newsmax: Equal Justice Needed on Biden Documents
• Rep. Comer to Newsmax: ‘Two-Tier System of Justice’ Exposed
• Rep. Brad Wenstrup to Newsmax: WH Must Provide Answers on Biden Docs
• Rep. Cline to Newsmax: ‘Significant Evidence of a Crime’ If Biden Hiding Classified Docs
• Kimberly Guilfoyle to Newsmax: Biden Thinks He’s Above the Law
• McCarthy: Biden Must Have Had Previous Knowledge of Classified Docs
• Lara Trump to Newsmax: Biden Docs Reek of ‘Hypocrisy,’ Corruption
• Dershowitz to Newsmax: Neither Trump, Biden Will Be Criminally Prosecuted for Classified Docs
• Rudy Giuliani to Newsmax: Biden Docs Exposed to Get Him Out
• Hunter Biden Lived at Residence Where Documents Were Discovered
• Devin Nunes to Newsmax: ‘Corrupt’ DOJ Can’t Be Trusted With Hur Pick
• Ben Carson to Newsmax: ‘Enemies’ Looking for Biden Documents
• Rep. Comer to Newsmax: Biden Can’t Be Trusted With Nation’s Secrets
• Alina Habba to Newsmax: ‘Double Standard’ Regarding Classified Docs ‘Absurd’
• Rep. Greg Murphy to Newsmax: Could Hunter Access Joe’s ‘Vette’?
• Rep. Ogles to Newsmax: Biden, Trump’s ‘Destinies Are Intertwined’
• Gordon Chang to Newsmax: Biden Doc Discovery ‘Stinks to High Heaven’
• Rep. Rick Allen to Newsmax: Biden Document Discoveries ‘Poetic Justice’
• Rep. Alford to Newsmax: Biden Docs Could’ve Swayed Midterms
• Rep. Rosendale to Newsmax: Biden Docs Delay Shows Double Standard
• Fred Fleitz to Newsmax: Biden Doc Locations Not Handled as Crime Scenes
• Chris Christie: Did Biden or Klain Choose ‘Not to Disclose’ Docs Before Midterms?
• Trump Ridicules Biden’s ‘Unlocked, Unsecured’ Garage in Docs Scandal

That’s 37 articles in the first week of the story, for those counting at home.

There were opinion pieces as well. A Jan. 13 column by Michael Dorstewitz rehashed much of what Newsmax had already reported while also defending Trump, insisting that “the records in Trump’s possession were covered under the Presidential Records Act, and he had the power to declassify those records. As vice president Biden had no such power, and there’s no ‘Vice Presidential Records Act’ for him to fall back on.” Again, vice presidents do have declassification powers. Larry Bell pushed the same falsehood to protect Trump in a column the same day:

If you imagined that the Aug. 8 FBI/DOJ raid on Donald Trump’s private residence at Mar-a-Lago was truly over secret documents as part of an undisclosed “criminal investigation,” let’s see if a belated report of multiple illegal stashes of Joe Biden’s classified materials dating to his time as vice president between 2013-2016 receives comparable legal culpability zeal.

[…]

There is a big legal difference between former President Trump’s private possession of classified documents which he had full authority to declassify, versus Joe Biden’s removal of such materials as vice president with no such license.

Bell concluded by whining, “Don’t count on an armed raid on Jill Biden’s wardrobe closet as happened to former first lady Melania Trump any time soon.” He forgot to mention that Trump’s failure to cooperate is the direct cause of the raid.