Mark Levin shredded President Joe Biden for what he viewed as hypocrisy in his administration’s decision to indict former President Donald Trump for mishandling classified documents.
The conservative host referred to Biden as a “liar” for denying any involvement in the charging of his main political rival. He drew a parallel between the search of Mar-a-Lago and the actions of British kings who searched the businesses of American colonists in the past “in search of criminal behavior.”
Levin asserted that the Justice Department violated former President Trump’s Fourth and Fifth Amendment rights during its extensive search of his Florida compound. He argued that as the president, Trump had the authority to declassify and remove documents from the White House.
Speaking on Fox News, Levin further suggested that Biden should have been aware of these constitutional violations before approving the investigation.
“This is a defective search warrant on many grounds as far as I’m concerned. What about the Fifth Amendment? What about due process? Has Trump received due process?… You cannot be properly defended if you’re accused by a government, and yet in the case of Donald Trump, his lawyers were brutalized,” said Levin.
Levin referred to a New York Times article from March that highlighted how a lawyer for the president was compelled to provide testimony regarding the documents, challenging claims about attorney-client privileges and potentially compromising Trump’s ability to mount a strong defense.
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Conservative legal analysts have also said that the case could be dismissed on the grounds of violating Trump’s rights and that the former president may gain an advantage as his case has been assigned to a circuit court judge whom he appointed.
Levin highlighted the apparent hypocrisy of Department of Justice (DOJ) lawyers who failed to consider legal precedents set during former President Bill Clinton’s tenure. He noted that Clinton’s lawyers had argued that “[u]nder the statutory scheme established by the [Presidential Records Act], the decision to segregate personal materials from presidential records is made by the President, during the President’s term, and at his sole discretion.”
Levin expressly referred to a case involving audio tapes that Clinton had taken after leaving the White House in 2001.
For his part, Trump has said he declassified everything he had in his possession before he left the White House.
