The disclosure that aides to Joe Biden discovered a handful of classified documents while they were moving boxes out of the president’s think tank offices in Washington, DC, has the potential to be a political headache. The documents were found while the assistants were moving the boxes.
It’s possible that this will put him in legal trouble, but we don’t know enough about the documents, which are from when he was vice president before 2017 and why they weren’t kept safely at the United States National Archives, to say for sure at this point. (Also Read: Will the Metaverse be Your New Workplace?)
John Lausch, an attorney for the United States government based in Chicago, is currently conducting an investigation into the matter and has already furnished Attorney General Merrick Garland with an initial report. The specifics of that report have not been made public as of yet.
Even so, Mr. Biden’s critics have been quick to compare this news, which was first reported by CBS News, to the Department of Justice’s ongoing investigation into how Donald Trump handled classified information after he leaves the White House in January 2021.
“This is further concern that there is a two-tier justice system within the [Department of Justice] with how they treat Republicans versus Democrats — certainly how they treat the former president versus the current president,” House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer said at a press conference.The House Oversight Committee could launch its own investigation into the matter. James Comer is quoted as saying
There are a number of key distinctions between the two cases, despite the fact that there is still a great deal to learn about the circumstances surrounding the documents related to the Biden case.
The number of files, their types, and their locations
There were reportedly 10 classified documents, some of which were marked top secret, that were discovered by Mr. Biden’s personal lawyers in a box of other material that was kept in a storage closet at the Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement at the University of Pennsylvania. This is in stark contrast to the discovery of more than 325 classified files at Mr. Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida over the course of the previous year. These files included some that were labeled with the “secret” and “top secret” designations.
The difference in atmosphere between Mr. Biden’s office at the think tank and Mr. Trump’s home could be striking, though it shouldn’t be too surprising since the former president often mixes business and personal matters.
According to CNN, the documents that were found in Mr. Biden’s office were marked with the phrase “sensitive compartmented information,” which indicates that the content may involve intelligence-gathering methods and sources. It has been reported that information about Ukraine, Iran, and the UK was included in them.
One set of the three hundred Trump documents that were found at Mar-a-Lago carried the same SCI designation.
The reasons that led to the beginning of the investigations
On November 2, according to Mr. Biden’s special counsel, his personal lawyers found the classified documents as they were moving out of the Biden Center’s Washington offices. The materials were delivered to the National Archives the day after they were handed over.
The National Archives reached out to Mr. Trump’s office after it was determined that it did not have possession of some notable records from Mr. Trump’s term as president, such as correspondence with North Korea’s Kim Jong-un. This was the case with Mr. Trump.
The former president’s team conducted an inspection of the storage facilities at Mar-a-Lago and provided the government with some material, including classified documents; however, archivists did not believe that the president’s team had been fully cooperative. This led the FBI to start an investigation, which led to the search of the Mar-a-Lago estate in August and the discovery of more than 100 more documents.
The investigation into whether or not Mr. Trump or members of his team violated federal law by obstructing the process of document recovery or destroying government materials has reportedly been turned over to Special Counsel Jack Smith of the Justice Department. The matter has now been turned over to Smith.
The reply to the question regarding the missing documents
In the days after the raid at Mar-a-Lago, Donald Trump said that the FBI and the Justice Department were investigating him for political reasons to stop him from running for the White House again, which he did in November.
Mr. Biden, for his part, said that the way Mr. Trump dealt with the situation was “completely irresponsible.”
Since it came out that the president himself is being accused of mishandling classified information, Mr. Trump has wasted no time going on the attack.
On his social media site, he asked, “When is the FBI going to raid the many homes of Joe Biden, perhaps even the White House?” He was referring to the vice president of the United States.
Joe Biden, the Vice President of the United States, has said nothing about the recent news, but his lawyer has said something.
He stated that “since that discovery, the president’s personal attorneys have cooperated with the Archives and the Department of Justice in a process to ensure that any Obama-Biden administration records are appropriately in the possession of the Archives.” ” Since that discovery, the president’s personal attorneys have cooperated with the Archives and the Department of Justice in a process to ensure that any Obama-Biden administration records are appropriately in their possession.
For the time being, these kinds of explanations might be sufficient. However, as more information about the documents related to Vice President Biden becomes public, it is possible that the President will be required to provide his own explanation. (Also Read: 20 High-Paying Side Jobs to Consider in 2023)
