Berlin/Washington
The US President is under pressure after the discovery of secret documents in private rooms. A special investigator will investigate the case.
Difficult times have dawned for US President Joe Biden. After gaining a majority in the House of Representatives in the congressional elections, Republicans announced broad-based investigations against the President and his son Hunter. Now, of all people, Biden’s own Minister of Justice has poured oil on the fire and one special counsel used to check whether the President – then a private citizen – might have committed a crime in dealing with secret documents.
In less than 72 hours, Biden went from bad to worse. It was announced on Tuesday that his private lawyers were ten confidential documents in an office that Biden had used after his vice presidency – from 2017 to 2019 – in his capacity as an honorary professor for the University of Pennsylvania. Then on Thursday afternoon the next sensation: In the garage of his private home in Wilmington, Delaware, the legal advisors had tracked down further documents.
Joe Biden: Special Counsel to investigate documents affair
Reacted immediately Justice Secretary Merrick Garland. Garland, who was appointed by the President but, strictly speaking, heads an independent agency as the “Attorney General,” appointed a special counsel. He spoke of “extraordinary circumstances” that would have forced him to leave the case to an investigator. This, Republican Robert Hur, will investigate “whether any person or institution has broken the law.” according to the minister. Garland expressed confidence that Hur would act “in an impartial and urgent manner.” That could be cold consolation for Biden, however, since Hur was a senior official in the same department under none other than his predecessor and political nemesis Donald Trump.
The Republicans, who now control all committees in the House of Representatives, promptly followed suit. Rep. James Comer, who chairs the Oversight Committee, was the satisfaction It should be noted when he outlined the further course of action: The appointment of a special prosecutor will in no way prevent his committee from “initiating investigations against the president for mishandling confidential documents”.
“There are a lot of questions as to why the White House kept this matter secret, who had access to the office and private residence, and what is in the records,” Comer said. Republicans had previously announced that they wanted to independently investigate the president over the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan and his son because of his well-paid job at the Ukrainian energy company Burisma.
Read the comment: The discovery of secret documents is an embarrassment for Biden
Finding of secret documents: Political reversal of fate for Biden
Biden’s political reversal of fate In any case, it happened at breathtaking speed. After surprisingly good results in the elections, where Democrats were able to defend their majority in the Senate, his presidency seemed to be on the up again. In addition, the 15-vote marathon to elect majority leader Kevin McCarthy exposed the Republicans as a divided and radicalized party. But now, within a few days, the tide has turned completely.
Biden’s already limited ability to act — because laws are almost never passed in a divided Congress — will be further narrowed. The investigation and hearings announced by Republicans could eclipse the entire legislative agenda. The opposition is also already thinking loudly about initiating impeachment proceedings against Biden. It would only require a simple majority of 218 votes in a chamber where Republicans have 222 seats.
Even if the president survives the crisis, the question is whether he will actually run for a second term in 2024. Even before the scandal surrounding the secret documents broke, many Democrats had refused to say whether they had one another Biden candidacy would support. Their number is now likely to increase, as will the number of other Democrats who could throw their hats in the ring and run for the presidency.
Biden: Comparison with finds at Trump lags
Meanwhile, the President washes his hands of his innocence. the Comparison to Trump, whose Mar-a-Lago residence was raided last August, is limping, the White House says. Trump had more than 600 confidential documents, more than 60 of which were classified as “top secret”. In the case of Biden, however, only a good dozen, half of which were stamped “top secret”.
Trump only provided further documentation after a court subpoena and a legal tug of war that lasted several months. As a result, he is under investigation not only for mishandling official documents, but also for obstruction of justice. Biden’s lawyers, on the other hand, immediately handed them over to the responsible national archive after the documents were found, the White House emphasized. “As you know, I take confidential documents very seriously,” stressed the President on Thursday evening. But that won’t be nearly enough to shake off the scandal.
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