The case of Biden's classified documents keeps getting twists and turns, precisely in the critical weeks when he has to prepare for the State of the Nation address and probably also about preparation for a campaign for a second term.
At the end of the week, the lawyers of the White House had to update that the real amount of the classified documents found in his home in Delaware is significantly larger than they thought: while at first they said that they found several documents in the parking room and another document in the adjoining room, now they updated the number found in the adjoining room to five, meaning six In other words, according to the calculation of the networks in the USA, a total of 20 classified documents were found in his private home and in the office where he worked while being a faculty member of the University of Pennsylvania in its branch in Washington.
The White House's updated explanation regarding the documents discovered by chance in the room next to the parking lot was rather laconic: "During the transfer of the documents to the Justice Ministry officials who accompanied me, five additional pages with classification markings were discovered along with the material, so the total number of classified pages [in the room next to the parking lot] is six , and the officials of the Ministry of Justice took them into their hands immediately," said the President's legal advisor."
As you may recall, on Thursday US Attorney General Rick Garland, who is also the Attorney General, announced the appointment of a special investigator for the case, as he also did with regard to the classified documents found at former President Donald Trump's estate in Florida.
The findings of the two special investigators will be submitted to Garland, who will ultimately have to determine whether there are grounds to indict the 45th or 46th president.
Biden can take heart from the fact that, according to the accepted legal interpretation of the US Department of Justice, a sitting president almost always enjoys immunity while in office.
Biden responded Thursday to the revelations of the documents at his home, saying he was surprised by the report.
"People know I take classified documents seriously."
He did not elaborate on how the documents got to the parking room in his house and the room next to it.
"My car is inside a closed room, it's not like the documents were just there."
But despite this, it seems that Biden is expected to face an equally problematic investigation by the Judiciary Committee of the House of Representatives, which recently passed to Republican control.
The committee of the House of Representatives announced at the end of the week the opening of an investigation into the matter, and it also has the authority to compel anyone it wants to testify.
Although she cannot prosecute Biden, she can submit a draft impeachment letter to the US House of Representatives, and if the plenary adopts the charges, Biden will be forced to undergo an impeachment trial in the Senate - although the chance of actual conviction and impeachment is slim, because the Senate is controlled by the Democrats.
If these troubles are not enough for Biden, it seems that his position in his party has also been undermined because of the documents to the point that the Democratic primaries for the presidency may be opened.
The AP agency said that "Biden's situation has entered into uncertainty" with regard to the safe path to receiving the Democratic presidential nomination, especially against the background of polls in the party that have been showing for several months that most of its supporters prefer that he not run for a second term.
"In private rooms, party officials believe that the investigation against him may lead to an internal struggle in the party against him."
Usually when an incumbent president runs for a second term, the primaries are held just for the record, and there is almost no serious candidate running against him within the party.
Among the potential choices: former senator Hillary Clinton and incumbent senator Bernie Sanders, who have already run for president twice.
However, both have yet to announce their intentions.
Hillary Clinton during the 2016 presidential race, photo: AP Matt Rourke
The Hill website reported over the weekend that in chambers, Democrats fear that the weakening of Biden's image due to the affair will rob him of his trump card against Trump: moral integrity.
The report stated that "Democrats are lamenting a growing fear that the compromise surrounding the documents in his private home and office will harm his race for re-election."
The report emphasized that the Democrats believe that in the end Biden will overcome the affair, they admit that it hurts him at a particularly sensitive moment, when he intends to launch a campaign that will differentiate him from Trump, who has already announced a run for a second term.
In private rooms, they wonder how difficult it will be for Biden to explain what happened and avoid comparisons to the affair that clouded Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign in 2016, when a private server was discovered in her home with government materials, some of which are even classified.
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