- Kevin McCarthy said secret documents are safer in a bathroom than a garage because "a bathroom door locks."
- However, many — if not most — garage doors have locks.
- Furthermore, most bathroom doors lock from the inside. They are unlocked when unoccupied.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy defended Donald Trump's practice of storing boxes of classified documents in a chandeliered bathroom today by arguing that doing so is safer than storing them in a garage, because bathroom doors lock.
However, many — if not most — garage doors have locks.
Asked at a press gaggle whether it was "a good look" for Trump to be caught storing classified documents in the bathroom of Mar-a-Lago's Lake Room, McCarthy responded with a question: "I don't know — is it a good picture to have boxes in a garage that opens up all the time? A bathroom door locks."
McCarthy was attempting to draw a parallel between the document storage practices of current and former presidents.
Whereas Trump was indicted last week on charges of illegally hiding secret documents in the chandeliered bathroom of Mar-a-Lago's Lake Room (among other things), President Joe Biden is under investigation by a special counsel for storing classified documents in his Wilmington, Delaware, garage (among other things).
When classified records were discovered in the garage in January by Biden's lawyers, who immediately notified the Department of Justice and handed them over, the president was quick to point out that his garage, like most garages, had doors that lock.
"My Corvette's in a locked garage," Biden said at the time."So, it's not like it's sitting on the street."
If true, that would place Biden's garage in the same category as Trump's Mar-a-Lago bathroom as a location with a lock — even if, as McCarthy claimed, Biden's garage "opens up all the time."
It's unclear how frequently the bathroom in Mar-a-Lago's Lake Room opens up. It's also unclear whether, like most bathrooms, it locks from the inside and remains unlocked when unoccupied.
McCarthy's office did not return a voicemail message seeking comment.
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