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‘It Didn’t Answer My Question’: ‘Morning Joe’ Host Grills Biden Adviser As He Tiptoes Around Document Question

[Screenshot MSNBC Morning Joe]

Brianna Lyman News and Commentary Writer
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MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” hosts Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough on Monday grilled Ian Sams, a senior adviser and spokesman for the White House Counsel’s Office, on President Joe Biden’s ongoing document scandal.

Lawyers for Biden discovered the first trove of classified documents on Nov. 2 at the Penn Biden Center. The documents, which date from Biden’s time as vice president, were reported to the National Archives and Records Administration the same day, and the Department of Justice (DOJ) was notified two days later. More documents were subsequently found in December and January.

“How did this happen?” Brzezinski asked.

“Look, I think you’ve heard the president speak to this, heard the president’s personal attorney’s speak to this. The president takes this seriously, and that’s why he’s fully cooperating with the Department of Justice,” Sams said, adding that the administration would allow the DOJ to have “unprecedented access” to Biden’s Delaware home.

“From the very beginning, when the team first discovered materials, they’ve handled this the right way, they’ve handled it responsibly with the proper authorities, first with the National Archives, then with the Department of Justice,” Sams said. He also contrasted Biden’s behavior with that of former President Donald Trump, who is under investigation due to classified documents recovered from his Mar-A-Lago residence.

Brzezinski brushed aside the comparisons to Trump and said that Sams’ response “didn’t answer my question really.” She then asked again, “How could this happen?”

Sams reiterated that Biden takes the matter “very seriously.”

“I understand the question about how this happened,” he added, before saying that the administration would defer to the DOJ to answer that question.

“They’re going to be tasked with finding all the facts, putting it all together, understanding exactly what happened, asking the questions,” Sams said. “That’s appropriate. That’s why we’re fully cooperating: to understand how this happened.”

“Wait a minute,” Scarborough interjected. “Does the DOJ need to tell the president why the president has classified documents in his home? I don’t understand that.” (RELATED: NYT Details How White House Though They’d Get Away With A Cover-Up)

“Joe, I understand the question. I think that it really just gets to heart of the matter. The DOJ is the one who’s tasked with finding out all the facts, and the DOJ is going to ask questions and the DOJ is going to seek information,” Sams said, claiming once again that the administration would cooperate fully with that investigation.

“Ok, Ian. The question though [that] I’m sort of stuck on here is: I understand that there is an investigation, there’s a limit to what you can say and all that. But there are obvious possibilities here as to how in the world this could have happened,” Brzezinski said. “Are there any that you can share with us?”

Sams again stressed the need to “respect the investigation of the DOJ” and continued to dodge the question for the rest of the segment.