The battle over who is badder rages on in Washington. This time about possibly secret documents, the gravity of which we never knew with Trump and which are no clearer with Biden. But no forgiveness: the voters obviously want that.
Sometimes it’s not always easy to distinguish between mystery and evidence. In this case, you don’t need to worry. Let’s start with Biden: his aides found government documents he shouldn’t have had at home; They immediately turned them over to the National Archives, which is charged with managing all of this.
Trump and his entourage have resisted for months releasing such documents as the National Archives have requested; It took the intervention of the Justice Department and then the FBI before they were eventually recovered.
SOME LEAVES AGAINST SEVERAL BOXES
In Biden’s case, ten classified documents were found in a Washington office he occupied after leaving the vice presidential post in early 2017. Then, further searches turned up a “small number” in a garage and adjoining room at his Delaware residence.
The National Archives received from Trump 15 boxes of material that he had brought with him when he left the White House. When archivists found key files missing, they referred the case to the Justice Department, which, after dispatching investigators, was able to obtain more documents, more than a hundred, identified as classified or top secret.
Despite claims by Trump’s lawyers that he had nothing left in his possession, a subsequent FBI search of Mar-a-Lago, the ex-president’s Florida residence, in August 2022 found he had collected 13,000 additional documents, including a hundred Documents marked as “secret”. .
THE POWER OF MIND
Let’s summarize: cooperation on the one hand, at first glance; strong resistance from others. A dozen documents and a few more on one page; 15 boxes and 13,000 more documents on the other side.
As for the justifications, Joe Biden, being questioned at the North American leaders’ summit in Mexico, admitted to being surprised to learn those documents were there.
Donald Trump, questioned on Fox News last September, said he — unbeknownst to anyone — declassified everything while he was still in the White House: “There’s no trial. If you are President, you can unclassify just by thinking about it. »
Justice Secretary Merrick Garland decided to remain completely impartial. As with Trump, he has appointed a special prosecutor who will oversee the documents discovered on Biden.
Meanwhile, Republicans, who are often elected in districts where Joe Biden remains wildly unpopular, have promised full investigations into “all wrongdoing” by the president. To hell with common sense!
TRUMP AND BIDEN DOCUMENTS: THE DIFFERENCES
TRUMP CARD:
■ More than 300 documents marked classified, secret and top secret were seized from his home in Mar-a-Lago, Florida.
■ Some documents have been described as “very sensitive” and relate to espionage operations in Iran and China.
■ Despite repeated requests from the National Archives, Trump has staunchly opposed the return of the records, including orders that some boxes be moved and hidden from government inspectors.
■ Investigators have concluded that Trump brought these classified documents with him because of his ego and his desire to keep them as “souvenirs and trophies.”
BIDEN:
■ Ten documents marked “classified” found in an old study at the University of Pennsylvania and a “small number” in his private library at his home in Wilmington, Delaware.
■ The documents related to intelligence briefings on countries such as Iran, Ukraine and the UK.
■ Immediately after their discovery, the documents were voluntarily turned over to the National Archives, which had not previously requested them.
■ The White House says these documents were withheld by mistake and negligence.
