Republicans teased over tweet saying no one who mishandles US secrets can be president

The post appeared to refer to Joe Biden, though many online users were quick to highlight the unintentional similarities with GOP presidential frontrunner Donald Trump

House Republicans were taunted over an “epic fail” after posting a tweet in which they claimed that a person who “mishandled classified information” was not fit to be president.

The post on Monday appeared to refer to Joe Biden, who was found to have “willfully” held onto documents after he left office as Barack Obama’s vice-president in January 2017, though many online users were quick to highlight the unintentional similarities with the party’s presidential frontrunner, Donald Trump.

Mr Biden is not facing any criminal charges over retaining the materials, which included “marked classified documents about military and foreign policy in Afghanistan”, and notebooks containing written entries about issues of national and foreign policy.

On Sunday, the official account of the House GOP wrote online: “A man who can’t even be held responsible for mishandling classified information properly has absolutely no business occupying the Oval Office”.

The post received multiple sarcastic responses, highlighting the vague wording of the post.

“House Republicans declare that Donald Trump has no business occupying the Oval Office,” wrote MeidasTouch, with the organisation’s editor-in-chief Ron Filipkowski adding “Mike Johnson attacks Trump”.

Another user replied saying: “Agree 100%. I assume the party will now be endorsing @NikkiHaley”, while another declared the post an “epic fail”.

Last year, Mr Trump was indicted by a grand jury for keeping classified documents at his luxurious Mar-a-Lago residence. He reportedly improperly stored the sensitive documents on nuclear capabilities and cavalierly showed off a Pentagon “plan of attack” and a classified map.

The former president and his allies have previously bemoaned the unfairness of the grand jury’s decision, more so in the wake of prosecutors’ decision not to charge Mr Biden.

After the decision was announced, Mr Trump, who has denied any wrongdoing in his own case brought by special counsel Jack Smith, took to his social media platform Truth Social, saying: “THIS IS A TWO-TIERED SYSTEM OF JUSTICE!”