Trump and Biden face scrutiny for the discovery of classified documents: why are both cases similar but very different?

By Dareh Gregorian -

The president of the United States, Joe Biden, assured this Tuesday that he was "surprised" to learn of the discovery of classified documents from the Obama-Biden era in an old office of his, and said he had no knowledge of what the files found by his officials contained. lawyers in a locked closet.

“People know that I take documents and classified information seriously,” Biden said from Mexico in his first statements about the finding that has put his Administration under the microscope, since the documents were found days before the midterm elections. term, but nothing was said about them until this week.

"

," he said, saying his lawyers have been "fully cooperating" with the Justice Department's investigation.

[A judge refused to hold Trump in contempt but ordered him to return any classified documents he still has]

The finding was reported to the public this Monday, when the White House confirmed information advanced by CBS News that detailed the existence of a "small number of classified documents" that appeared to belong to the Obama Administration, and that had been found in a center of studies linked to Biden.

The files were found by the president's lawyers in a closet, when they were preparing to evacuate the offices of the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement, Richard Sauber, Biden's special adviser, said in a statement.

The University of Pennsylvania leased a suite of offices for the center in February 2018, including one intended for Biden's personal use when he was in Washington working as vice president.

Investigating Classified Obama Administration Documents Found at Penn Biden Center

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Some Republicans in Congress — and Trump — have questioned why the FBI had not issued search warrants for the president to see if he has more classified documents in his possession.

"When is the FBI going to raid Joe Biden's many homes, maybe even the White House?" Trump said on his social network, Truth Social.

While much is still unknown about the recent find,

The places where the documents were found

The National Archives — which must receive all presidential documents when a president or vice president leaves office — contacted Trump Administration officials shortly after he left the White House in 2021 to inform them that the agency believed that some files were missing and needed to be recovered.

[Classified Obama-Biden Government Documents Discovered in President's Private Office]

After several months of negotiations, Trump shipped 15 boxes of files from his Mar-a-Lago residence in January of last year.

Court reports show that classified documents were found in 14 of the 15 boxes, including 25 that were marked secret.

In total, there were 184 classified papers in the boxes.

More would meet later.

In the Biden case, Sauber stated that

.

He added that the White House counsel's office notified them when they were found and that officials picked them up the next day.

Irregular migration seizes the summit of 'the three friends' and at the border they doubt their promises

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It is unclear how many vice presidential files and classified documents were found in the office.

Sauber said Biden's personal lawyers were packing up files when they found "what appeared to be Obama-Biden Administration records, including a small number of classified documents," without specifying how secret they were.

Two sources familiar with the matter said at least a dozen classified documents were found in the office.

The Justice Department investigation

In both cases, the Archives reported the discovery to the Department of Justice.

When the agency notified Trump's staff early last year that it would turn the documents over to intelligence services to examine whether they might affect national security, the former president's team objected and asked for a temporary postponement.

The Archives granted the first request but denied the second, court documents show.

[Classified documents found in former Biden office sneak into the 'Three Amigos' Summit]

later obtained information that Trump had more government papers and issued a subpoena for him to return them

.

In June, the former president's lawyers delivered a package that included 38 classified documents, including 17 marked top secret.

Trump's lawyers showed the agents where the files were kept, but did not allow them to examine the boxes inside, according to court records.

They also delivered a statement that "a diligent search had been carried out" and that "all relevant documents had been turned over," government court files show.

President Joe Biden in a photo from July 20, 2022. Brendan Smialowski / AFP via Getty Images file

The FBI learned that Trump had not fully complied with the subpoena and that he still had more classified papers.

They obtained a search warrant for his Mar-a-Lago property in August and found more than 100 documents marked confidential, secret and top secret in Trump's warehouse and office.

Later, Trump tried to stop the federal investigation by requesting that an expert review them and demanded their return, claiming that they had been declassified and were his property.

Another search conducted later in the year, at the request of Trump's lawyers, found two other classified documents in a Florida warehouse used by the former president near Mar-a-Lago, Noticias Telemundo's sister network NBC reported in December.

Those were turned over to the FBI, the sources said.

[Trump insists that he is the subject of a witch hunt, after the appointment of a prosecutor to investigate him]

In the case of Biden, Sauber assured that, since the discovery of the documents on November 2, “the personal lawyers of the president have cooperated with the Archives and the Department of Justice in a process to guarantee that all the records of the Obama Administration -Biden are duly in the possession of the Archives”.

US Attorney General Merrick Garland has asked John R. Lausch, the Trump appointee for the Northern District of Illinois, to review how the classified material ended up at the Penn Biden Center, a source familiar with NBC News told NBC News on Monday. with the matter.

Ian Sams, a spokesman for the White House counsel's office, stated: “This is a process under review by the DOJ, so we are going to limit what we can say at this time.

But we are committed to doing this the right way, and we will provide more details when and as appropriate."

How much did the presidents know about the documents?

It's not clear when exactly Trump learned that the Archives had demanded the return of documents, but he certainly found out before the 15 boxes were shipped from Mar-a-Lago last January.

He also interacted with FBI officials who went to retrieve the papers turned over by his team in June.

A judge refused to hold Trump in contempt but ordered him to return any classified documents he still has

Dec 9, 202200:22

His claims that he had declassified them before leaving the White House and that he considered them his personal property also indicate that he was aware of at least some of the files that were initially removed.

As for Biden, the president said he was unaware that classified documents had been kept in his old office and only found out when his lawyers told him they had been discovered.

The differences in figures

In all,

.

The exact number of papers found in Biden's office is unknown.

Sauber described them as a "small number," while sources told NBC there were fewer than a dozen.

Safety Concerns

The federal government has strict regulations for the storage and handling of classified records.

Apparently those rules were not followed by Trump — who kept documents in West Palm Beach, in his office and in a locked room in a busy area at his Florida resort — or by Biden, who kept them in a locked cabinet.

The FBI raised concerns with Trump's lawyers about how the documents were being kept at Mar-a-Lago in an email in June.

They report that they gave the FBI new classified documents that Trump had in a property

Dec 7, 202200:21

“Mar-a-Lago does not include an authorized secure location for the storage of classified information.

As such, it appears that from the time the classified documents [REDACTED] were removed from the secure White House facility and transferred to Mar-a-Lago on or about January 20, 2021, they have not been handled appropriately or stored in a suitable place,” the email said.

Trump has described that request as putting an extra lock on the door, which he says was done.

The legal repercussions

Special counsel Jack Smith is now leading the FBI's criminal investigation into the Trump documents case, as well as another case into his role in the January 6 insurrection.

A document attached to the August search warrant showed that investigators were seeking evidence of

government records .

At the moment there is no indication that the Biden investigation has turned into a criminal investigation.

[They report that they gave the FBI new classified documents that Trump had in a property]

NBC News legal analyst Barbara McQuade, a former federal prosecutor, explained that there are "several distinguishing factors" between the two cases.

McQuade indicated on Twitter that the Justice Department prosecutes the mishandling of classified documents when there is an aggravating factor.

“Those are obstruction of justice, storage in a manner to risk discovery, willful violation, and disloyalty to the United States,” he tweeted.

“In the case of Mar-a-Lago, all but the last factor appear to be present.

In the case of the Biden documents, there is no indication that either factor is met, but the referral for investigation of him by the Trump-appointed Chicago federal prosecutor seems prudent,” he said.