Both former President Donald Trump and current President Joe Biden are under investigation after classified documents have appeared in places they shouldn’t be.
Several questions about the documents remain unanswered, and the general impression is that control over classified documents is so-so at the president’s office. But contrary to what many may think, this is not a problem that started with Trump.
FBI WITH BIDEN: Here is the FBI on its way to search President Joe Biden’s home in Wilmington on January 13 this year. Biden voluntarily agreed to the search. Photo: Carolyn Kaster/AP
Presented secret documents at school
In 1984 documents appeared in a sensational way, writes news agency AP.
It was a winter’s day in one of the suburbs of Pittsburgh. A 13-year-old girl had prepared for a presentation she was going to give in social studies to the class.
When the girl opened the suitcase in front of the teacher at Ingomar Middle School in Franklin Park, he was shocked. In the stress case were a number of classified folders.
The 13-year-old girl was Kristin Preble, who was in eighth grade at the time. She thought it must be perfect to bring something strange her father had brought home from work four years earlier.
Found a suitcase in the hotel room
Businessman Alan Preble was on business in Cleveland two days after the debate between presidential candidates Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan in the same city in 1980.
1980: Then-President Jimmy Carter and California Governor Ronald Reagan during a presidential debate on October 28, 1980. Photo: Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum via Reuters
In the hotel room he found a suitcase with documents. What he thought of the documents in the briefcase, the story does not say anything about, but at least he took the briefcase home with him to Franklin Park as a souvenir.
– We looked through the papers, but did not perceive that there was anything sensational, stated his wife, Carol Preble, to the media in 1984.
The fact that the documents were marked “secret” did not make a strong impression on the family, but when the daughter was to give a social studies presentation at school a little over three years later, they thought it might be exciting to show the documents.
Carter’s debate preparations
The documents belonged to Democrat Jimmy Carter, who was president of the United States from 1977 to 1981.
PRESIDENT: President Jimmy Carter with his wife, Rosalynn, and mother-in-law, Allie Smith, pictured Jan. 23, 1981. Four days earlier, a 13-year-old in Pittsburgh had brought Carter’s classified documents to school. Photo: Wayne Perkins/AP
Among other things, the files contained information that Carter had to prepare for before debates against his Republican rival, Ronald Reagan. The case therefore became part of what was referred to as “Debategate”.
Afterwards, it became clear that the suitcase had been forgotten at the hotel by Carter’s press adviser, Jody Powell.
There were also similar documents that mysteriously ended up with the Reagan campaign. Some claim the documents had been stolen.
Teacher called the FBI
The case at Ingomar secondary school was not discovered by special investigators or journalists, but by a teacher.
Jim DeLisio’s eyes were about to pop out of his head when he saw what the student had brought to school. The documents had several stamps of “secret”, “confidential”, “important” and “property of the US government”.
– I really didn’t want to look at it. I got really… scared. I didn’t want to know, he said at the time.
But then curiosity got the better of me. He took the document case with all its contents home with him, and that same evening he, his wife and a daughter sat and looked through everything.
The documents contained folders about all possible countries. Some folders were stamped with “Iran”. “Libya” was also represented.
He tried to call Kristin’s parents, but got no answer. That’s why he called the FBI the next day. They arrived quickly and collected the papers.
Thick pile
A spokesman for the Ministry of Justice, who the AP news agency spoke to afterwards, would not say how many documents were involved, but estimated that the pile was ten centimeters high.
DeLisio was approached by the school administration because he called the FBI, and did not take the matter directly with the Preble family, or the school administration.
The revelation led to a wide-ranging investigation launched by the Reagan administration. The case did not reach the legal system, and eventually ran into the sand.
As for Kristin, she got a B on her school assignment. But she also got a place in the history books.
Asking presidents to check at home
Today’s document scandals have special investigators to find answers to why and how classified documents have ended up on the properties of former President Donald Trump and current President Joe Biden.
CLEANING UP: The US National Archives is asking former presidents and vice presidents to check if they have classified documents from their administrations lying around. Here we see a load outside the Eisenhower Executive Office building at the White House. January 14. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File) Photo: Gerald Herbert
Classified material has also been found at the home of former Vice President Mike Pence.
In the corridors of power, there has been an uneasiness about how many documents are in drawers, cupboards and garages all around.
The National Archives sent a letter on Thursday to representatives of the last six presidents and vice presidents, i.e. from the Reagan administration in the 1980s until today, asking everyone to check whether they have classified documents at home, according to CNN.
This applies to Donald Trump, Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George HW Bush and Ronald Reagan, as well as former vice presidents Mike Pence, Joe Biden, Dick Cheney, Al Gore and Dan Quayle.
Early publication
The scandal surrounding the secret documents, which had ended up in the moving load when Trump moved out of the White House, has received massive attention, and is still being investigated.
Biden came out harshly, calling Trump “irresponsible” for keeping hundreds of classified documents at the Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.
THE PRESS: President Joe Biden is under pressure after the document findings. Here he talks to reporters in the White House on January 20. Photo: Susan Walsh/AP
At the beginning of November, however, classified documents were also found in an office Biden used in Washington, and later more were found at his home in Delaware, including in the garage. Everything was immediately reported and returned to the national archive.
But it was not until 12 January that the document findings were announced publicly.
This has become a problem for Biden, and may have consequences for whether or not he runs for re-election next year.
The discovery of the documents also undermines his attempt to build a case against Donald Trump for the same violation.
SECRET: Hundreds of classified documents were found with Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago. Photo: US Department of Justice / AP
Similarities and differences
The two cases are different when it comes to quantity and how to cooperate with the authorities, but the principle is the same.
While Biden and his lawyers immediately resigned and returned the documents, Trump refused to return them until the FBI finally had to obtain a search warrant at Trump’s residence in Florida to get them all back.
Attorney General Merrick Garland has appointed Jack Smith as a special investigator into Trump’s handling of classified documents and his role in storming Congress, and he appointed Robert Hur to investigate the findings at Biden.
Legislation from 1978
The United States has a piece of legislation for the processing of government documents called the Presidential Records Act (PRA) which was established in 1978.
It states that all emails, letters and other work documents must be handed over to the National Archives, and was put in place in the wake of the Watergate scandal.
Former President Jimmy Carter is exempt from the law even though he was president when the PRA was signed, as it did not take effect until he himself left office.
