CNN’s Kaitlan Collins pressed Democratic Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker on whether the Biden administration “fumbled” its handling of classified documents.
A handful of classified documents belonging to President Joe Biden were found at multiple non-secure locations. At least five additional pages were discovered on Saturday in Biden’s Delaware home. The initial batch of documents were found on Nov. 2, but the public was only recently made aware of them on Jan. 9.
Collins said the administration has faced scrutiny over its handling of the classified documents and noted one source of “contention is that it took several months before when those documents were discovered on Nov. 2 and when they were reported on Jan. 9, which was only because the news reported it.”
“Do you believe the White House has fumbled the response here?” Collins asked.
“I think it’s appropriate to have an independent counsel and for the White House to be fully transparent,” Pritzker said. “This is vastly different than the situation with Trump.” (RELATED: ‘She Has Not Answered A Single Question’: CBS News Anchors Call Out KJP Over Biden Docs)
Pritzker then said the White House has “encouraged an investigation” and then took to criticizing former President Donald Trump over his classified document.
“It is different scenarios,” Collins said. “Do you think the White House has been forthcoming enough about the documents since they didn’t make the information publicly known?”
“I don’t know all the circumstances around the timing of the finding of the document and whether they knew they were classified and all the protocols involved,” Pritzker said. “What I can tell you is they have worked very hard to find any other documents. They’ve turned over any others they came across. I think they came across one more. Again, there should be an investigation. I think having an independent counsel is the right thing to do and that the White House needs to be fully transparent about this.”
White House press sec. Karine Jean-Pierre has been pressed by reporters as to why the White House has seemingly lacked transparency over the matter, with Jean-Pierre claiming she has been “forthcoming from this podium.”