This week it was announced that US President Joe Biden has left sensitive documents lying around in private buildings at least twice. Critics compare the matter to the classified documents previously found on Biden’s predecessor Donald Trump. But that comparison doesn’t quite hold. This is what we know about the case.
On November 2, classified documents were found in a former private office of Biden. CBS News revealed that news more than two months later: on January 9. It is the headquarters of the Penn Biden Center, an American think tank in Washington.
The think tank was founded in 2018. Before that, Biden used the building as an office. He did so between 2009 and 2017, when he was vice president under Barack Obama. The documents date from that time.
The exact content of the documents is unknown. Ten documents were found. CNN reported that some documents have been classified as top secret. This means that they contain sensitive information.
Biden’s own lawyers found the documents when they were cleaning up the office. They found the papers in a locked cabinet. It is not clear when exactly the documents ended up there.
Biden’s lawyers immediately reported the find to the US National Archives. Under US law, all official government documents must be kept there.
The agency collected the documents a day later. The Ministry of Justice was also informed. Attorney General Merrick Garland had it investigated whether further investigation was necessary.
Secret documents were also found in Biden’s home in Wilmington (in the state of Delaware) in December. That revealed NBC News on Jan. 11, two days after the White House confirmed the first find. The White House did not confirm the second find until a day later.
The second collection of documents was found in Biden’s garage. According to his lawyers, these were “some” documents. This find was reported to the judiciary on December 20.
Biden’s situation resembles that of his predecessor Donald Trump. Secret documents were also found in Trump’s Florida home last year. The former president turned out to have transported many documents to his home Mar-a-Lago after the end of his term.
The documents were found after the FBI obtained a search warrant to search the former president’s residence.
0:55That Biden himself is at least sloppy with sensitive documents has flippedis extra painful for the American president. He previously called Trump irresponsible and said that “state secrets are not safe with him (Trump, ed.)”.
Like Trump, Biden is also under investigation by a special prosecutor. Garland has appointed Robert Hur to investigate whether Biden committed any criminal acts or was negligent.
But there are also differences. Trump was about “fifteen boxes full“. He should not have had about thirteen thousand documents at home. At least three hundred of them were top secret. Biden had ten documents the first time and a “small number” the second time.
Trump’s documents contain information about US nuclear weapons, among other things. There were also secret reports on national security from the FBI, the CIA and space agency NASA. The contents of the documents found at Biden have not yet been disclosed.
2:58In addition, Biden’s lawyers themselves reported the documents found. In Trump’s case, the National Archives noted that documents were missing. They were only found when the FBI searched Trump’s home.
The search and discovery of documents in Trump’s home were part of a larger FBI investigation into the former president.
Trump has already been found to have acted culpably. So he left after one subpoena carry documents. Now it is being investigated whether he can be prosecuted criminally.
Biden’s culpable conduct has yet to be determined. There will probably be no criminal charges: the US Department of Justice follows the directive that sitting presidents are not prosecuted.
