Secret documents were found on President Joe Biden and his predecessor Donald Trump – but the cases differ. Image: Getty Images North America / Joe Raedle
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People who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones. A saying that US President Joe Biden will now have to put up with from the Republicans.
As recently as September, Biden criticized his predecessor Donald Trump for storing secret documents in his private estate in Mar-a-Lago, Florida.
Biden called Trump’s behavior “irresponsible”.
Joe Biden and Donald Trump: Both had secret government documents found in their private homes. Image: imago images / UPI Photo / Morry Gash
At the time, government papers were in his own garage at his home in Wilmington, Delaware. Irresponsible?
According to Biden, probably not, because after all they were lying next to his vintage Corvette. And this garage is locked, he emphasizes. The documents would therefore not just be lying around on the street.
Is the Biden case different from the Trump case? The USA expert Thomas Greven thinks yes. “From what we know so far, the cases are very different,” he says in conversation with watson. The political scientist is an editor at the “Blätter für deutsche und Internationale Politik” and conducts research at Freie Universität Berlin.
But from the beginning, what actually happened?
Secret documents appear where they don’t belong. A problem that probably in the USA almost part of everyday life. In the United States, government documents typically must be archived and preserved for posterity.
Now, however, secret papers have surfaced in Biden’s former private office and in his private garage. He claims not to have known anything about these documents. A found food for the Republicans, right at the front: Trump. Because he had caused a scandal with a similar case.
Trump calls for an FBI raid on the White House
The former US President himself is in the crosshairs. In the summer of 2022, the FBI found classified government papers during a raid on his private home in Mar-a-Lago, Florida. Trump is now reacting to Biden’s case with criticism.
“When will the FBI raid Joe Biden’s many homes, maybe even the White House?”he posts on the social media platform “Truth Social”, which he co-founded.
Trump has repeatedly criticized the investigation against him as a “political witch hunt”.
Ex-President Donald Trump took secret government documents to his Florida home.Image: AP / Rebecca Blackwell
Republicans are cannibalizing the Biden case
Republicans are using the Biden case to distract from the Trump secret documents scandal. Several MPs took this case as an opportunity to shoot Biden sharply.
Secret documents have also been found in President Joe Biden’s old office. Image: AP / Andrew Harnik
In particular, the timing of the discovery of the documents raises questions among many Republicans. “Oh really? They only found it now after all these years?” CNN quoted newly elected House Speaker Kevin McCarthy as saying.
The office where the first classified documents were found used Biden as Vice President during Barack Obama’s 2009-2017 tenure. Republican Byron Donalds wonders, “Why were these documents only found six years later?” Have they been lying undiscovered in a locked cupboard for so long?
Secret documents were found a week before the midterms
It is also explosive that the government papers were found a week before the midterms. Republican MP Elise Stefanik says it’s disturbing that the documents were discovered and handed over in early November, but the “corrupt” Justice Department has kept the find secret until now.
According to the Justice Department, this is a common practice. The Ministry usually does not inform publicly about investigations or investigation results.
Trump’s ally, Marjorie Taylor Greene, is calling for a trial against the incumbent US President. “This is a very serious situation,” she shares in a video Twitter with. She criticizes how differently Trump and Biden are treated in these cases.
But are these cases comparable? Back to the USA expert Greven. According to him, there are two major differences: in the number of documents found and in the cooperation with the authorities.
The differences between the Biden case and the Trump case
“Trump had to be forced to release a large number of documents and continues to claim that they belong to him,” says Greven. Biden, on the other hand, is cooperating with the responsible authorities regarding the return of the documents and the clarification of the facts. In addition, there are probably only a few documents with a confidentiality level at Biden.
Joe Biden used to be Vice President under ex-President Barack Obama. Image: AP / Patrick Semansky
scope of the documents
According to media reports, ten documents were found in Biden’s old office, not all of which were classified as secret. The number and content of the documents from his garage is still unclear. Trump is about 300 documents – including some with the classification “Top Secret”.
cooperation with the authorities
After the find, Biden’s lawyers are said to have immediately notified the National Archives, which took possession of the files the following day. Biden himself promised “full cooperation” in the investigation.
Trump, on the other hand, had long refused to hand over any documents he had stolen from the White House. Trump’s lawyers were only forced to hand over 38 documents after a court order. It took an FBI raid to confiscate the rest of the files.
In the summer of 2022, the FBI investigated Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago, Florida estate.Credit: IMAGO/UPI Photo / GARY ROTHSTEIN
At the time, the search warrant against Trump listed three criminal offenses as a possible basis for any seizures:
- Collect, transmit or lose defense information
- Remove or destroy official documents
- Destroying or altering documents to hamper investigations
Nevertheless, the piquant and politically explosive find leaves Biden in need of explanation – despite the differences with the Trump case.
Loss of confidence in Biden: the political damage is great
Biden was “surprised” that the documents had even been brought to the office, he said on the sidelines of a visit to Mexico City. He also does not know what is in the documents. But ignorance, as is well known, does not protect against the law.
According to Greven, Biden is probably not threatened with a lawsuit, but certainly with a committee of inquiry in the House of Representatives. The “Freedom Caucus” in particular could pounce on Biden’s “garage affair”. Founded in 2015, the group is considered the far-right parliamentary group in the US Congress. Most recently, some members caused an uproar when choosing speaker Kevin McCarthy.
Greven says:
“Under pressure from the Freedom Caucus, extensive investigations into the Biden family and the Biden government were planned anyway. The discovery of documents is fueling this even further and also creates the impression – which is very unfortunate for Biden and the Democrats – that the parties and Politicians don’t discriminate when it comes to wrongdoing.”
This presumably reinforces the already widespread anti-establishment attitude of the American population.
How it continues
With their slim majority in the House of Representatives, the Republicans could now initiate a committee of inquiry into the Biden case – in order to get maximum political advantage out of this matter.
“Even if the case has no legal consequences for Biden, it has provided Trump and the Republicans with considerable political ammunition,” Greven said. According to him, it is probably no coincidence that the case did not become known before the midterm elections in November.
The find of documents thus plays into the hands of the Republicans – while Biden has to worry.
(With material from the dpa)
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