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Comparing Classified Document Cases at Biden’s Office and Trump’s Mar-a-Lago


WASHINGTON – It is revealed that classified documents were found in a private office that Joseph R. Biden Jr. used before starting his 2020 campaign drew comparisons to former President Donald J. Trump’s hoarding of sensitive government files, which were the subject of criminal investigations. check.

Based on what’s been made public so far, here’s a closer look:

At a fundamental level, both involve official filings bearing the mark of classification that inappropriately accompanied Mr. Trump and Mr. Biden after they left office. Under the Presidential Records Act, White House records must be turned over to the National Archives and Records Administration after the administration leaves office. Individual citizens are generally not allowed to keep classified documents, and regulations require that such files be stored securely.

The Justice Department is scrutinizing both situations. In Mr. Trump’s case, Attorney General Merrick B. Garland has appointed special counsel Jack Smith to oversee the investigation. In Mr. Biden’s case, Mr. Garland appointed a Trump-appointed US attorney, John R. Lausch Jr., to conduct an initial investigation to help him determine whether an attorney should be appointed. special or not.

There are significant gaps in the public record on both, but available information shows that there are significant differences in how the documents came to light, their number, and – most importantly – how Mr. Trump and Mr. Biden react. Mr. Trump and his aides have resisted repeated attempts by the government to take it all back, while Mr. Biden’s lawyers have reported the matter and the White House has said they have cooperated fully. enough. These stark differences have consequential legal implications.

In Mr Trump’s case, hundreds of government files marked as classified — along with thousands of unclassified documents and photos — ended up at his club and residence in Florida. , Mar-a-Lago, after he left office. According to court documents, some were in cardboard boxes in a locked locker and the FBI discovered others in Mr. Trump’s office, including in his desk.

In the Biden case, the White House said in a statement Monday that “a small number of classified documents” were discovered in a locker at the office of a Washington think tank. , Penn Biden Center. It added that Mr Biden had periodically used the space after leaving his post as vice president in 2017 until he began running for president in 2020.

As president, Mr. Trump is said to have periodically sent records from the Oval Office to residential areas of the White House. In the chaos of his final days in office after trying to cling to power, those files were apparently packed with personal items such as clothing and mementos and shipped to Mar- a-Lago.

It is not yet known how the filings from the Obama administration ended up at the Penn Biden Center. On Tuesday, Mr. Biden said he took classified information very seriously and that he was “surprised to learn that any government files there were forwarded to that office.”

Very different.

In Mr Trump’s case, the National Archives in the spring of 2021 realized that historically prominent records had been lost and asked Mr. Trump to return them. The agency eventually retrieved 15 boxes and found that they included classified documents. The Justice Department retrieved additional records after issuing the subpoena, but it developed evidence that Mr. Trump still has more to come.

In Mr. Biden’s case, the White House said his attorneys discovered the files on November 2 while they were packing up to leave the office at the Penn Biden Center. “The documents are not the subject of any previous inquiry or investigation by the archives,” it also said.

Very different.

The White House said Mr Biden’s team reported the matter to the National Archives on the same day it was discovered, and the agency recovered the documents the next morning. It added that Mr Biden’s team has since worked with the archives and the Justice Department “to ensure that any Obama-Biden administration records are appropriately owned by the archives.” fit”.

Mr. Biden said on Tuesday that his attorneys had acted appropriately: They immediately called the archives to turn over the document. “We are cooperating fully — fully cooperating — with a review, which I hope will be completed soon,” he said.

By contrast, Mr. Trump and his aides for months delayed responding to repeated requests by the National Archives, then failed to fully comply with subpoenas while lying that they did. Court documents also allege that security camera footage shows “government records may have been concealed and deleted” from a storage room at Mar-a-Lago following the subpoena.

Mr. Trump has repeatedly attacked the National Archives for notifying the Justice Department about the matter and describing the investigation as illegitimate. A federal judge is consider despise his team for defying subpoenas.

Maybe.

Mr. Trump publicly stated that before leaving office, he declassified everything that appeared at Mar-a-Lago. There is no credible evidence to support that claim, and his lawyers have opposed repeating it in court, where there are professional consequences for lying. (Moreover, the potential crimes cited in the affidavit used to search Mr Trump’s Florida residence are independent of whether mishandled documents were classified. .)

When classified information system management operating command giving vice presidents the same authority to declassify secrets as presidents, Mr. Biden did not claim that he had declassified documents found in the Penn Biden Center’s closet. He said on Tuesday he didn’t know what they were.

More classified documents appear to have been improperly stored on Trump’s property than at Biden’s office.

Court records say that 184 documents marked as classified were in 15 boxes that the National Archives originally obtained from Mar-a-Lago. Trump’s team turned over 38 more such records after the subpoena, and the FBI found another 103 during the search.

The Biden administration statement said a “small number” of documents marked as classified were discovered in a closet at the Penn Biden Center. CBS News has report there are about 10.

When Mr. Biden’s lawyers saw the classified documents in the locker, they immediately cleaned the room, a person briefed on the situation said. The Biden team did not conduct its own systematic checks of the files.

Mr. Trump appears to have destroyed the official documents. Former aides said he tore up files while in office, and a letter from the National Archives indicated that some of the files obtained by the agency had been mutilated.

There are no allegations that Mr. Biden destroyed public records.

The implications of these differences are significant, although much information may still come to light.

One question is whether there is a deliberate mishandling of the secrets. a provision of espionage lawfor example, it is a crime if someone, without permission, knowingly keeps a national security secret “and fails to deliver it on request” to an official who has the authority to manage it.

The application to search Mar-a-Lago cited the Espionage Act, as well as laws against destroying official documents and obstructing official efforts. The fact that the FBI discovered more classified documents when searching Mar-a-Lago also raises the possibility that Mr. Trump’s team has defied subpoenas and made false statements.

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