(LibertySociety.com) – A lack of transparency is nothing new when it comes to the Biden administration’s responses to seemingly weekly scandals over the last several months, but a new excuse for not answering questions emerged on July 6. Andrew Bates, who serves as the Deputy Press Secretary for the White House, invoked the Hatch Act when asked for a response to former President Trump’s suggestion that the cocaine found in the West Wing could belong to Hunter Biden or President Biden. Bates’ response received widespread mockery online, as the Hatch Act only prevents officials from using political speech while at work, which could certainly be avoided when confirming or denying whether President Biden or his son were the owners of the illicit substance.
While shocking, responses like this from Biden administration officials are not unusual, as a recent study from the Media Research Center (MRC) showed that Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre “answered just 2% of the questions” asked of her this year about the multitude of scandals involving President Biden and his family. This amounts to only 6 responses out of 252 questions, many of which were related to corruption accusations from Republicans in the House Oversight Committee. The Committee is investigating the Biden family business dealings. Jean-Pierre also ducked numerous questions about President Biden’s retention of classified documents.
While mystery and changing stories have left people to speculate about whom the cocaine belonged to, most Republicans are blaming Hunter Biden for leaving behind the dime-sized bag. The Secret Service is reviewing surveillance footage and taking fingerprints to determine who the guilty party is, but the scandal has not faded into the background as others have in the past. Variations of how users are referring to the ordeal have dominated the trending tab on Twitter for 6 days straight, as Americans are refusing to back down until the culprit is identified. Jean-Pierre has punted most questions to the Secret Service, knowing that they will not give any information about an ongoing investigation.
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