Documents found at Biden: “Case damages credibility”

Updated on 01/18/2023 at 2:26 p.m

• More secret documents have been found on Joe Biden.
• The US Attorney General has appointed a special prosecutor.
• These incidents could have an impact on the Democrats’ election chances.

This text contains a classification of current events, which, in addition to data and facts, also includes the assessments of Michael Freckmann and, if necessary, experts. Find out about the different types of journalistic texts.

“The discovery of the files is embarrassing because Biden last year Trump sharply criticized for storing government files privately,” says Dominik Tolksdorf from the German Council on Foreign Relations. “And one of Biden’s promises is to act more responsibly as President than Trump.” The central question is why the files were found in the first place now became known.

More breaking news

Only a few weeks ago it became known that files from the time of Joe Biden’s vice presidency had already been found in November and December of last year. The documents date from a time when the current US President was Deputy Vice President from 2009 to 2017 President Obama was. Now another six pages have surfaced, said the US President’s legal adviser, Richard Sauber. Originally, Biden’s lawyers had only found a new site in his estate. However, since the lawyers did not have security clearance, the legal advisor was consulted. This then came across the other pages.

Nothing is known about the content so far. Individual documents even had the highest level of confidentiality, as reported by the dpa. Biden himself said he was surprised that such documents were found on him. The Biden administration has now appointed a special counsel itselfto clarify the incidents. Actually, such documents must be transferred to the US National Archives as soon as a person resigns from public office.

Republicans want to deal with incidents in Congress

Tolksdorf points out that if the case had broke before the midterm elections, it would have played into the hands of Republicans. The expert recalls the “e-mail scandal”. Hillary Clinton before the 2016 election. During her tenure, the former foreign minister operated from private email accounts. Republicans played this affair against them during Clinton’s presidential campaign.

Many Republicans in particular see what they found in the files on Joe Biden. After all, it helps them to divert the focus of attention away from the files found on ex-President Donald Trump. Controversy over these events has only just begun in Washington. “For the Republicans, the appointment of a special counsel is not enough; an investigation by Congress is also necessary,” says Tolksdorf.

This could lead to the case remaining in the public eye for months. In addition, the expert suspects, the Republicans would try to expand the investigation to include Biden’s son. Republicans have long wanted to subject Hunter Biden’s business relationships in Ukraine to a public investigation.

So far, secret documents mistakenly stored privately have only been linked to Trump. The FBI searched his Florida home last year. Some Democrats now fear that the events surrounding Biden could turn against the Democrats and distract from the scandals surrounding Donald Trump. But Tolksdorf is more cautious when assessing: “The big difference is that Trump has resisted releasing files to the National Archives. According to Biden, it was an oversight and he emphasized that he was working with the authorities when processing the case works together.”

Findings of documents fuel discussion about Biden’s renewed candidacy

It remains to be seen how this development will continue. “As long as Biden makes it credible that the files were inadvertently stored with him, I don’t think the case will be dangerous for his presidency. But the case fuels the discussion about whether Biden is the right Democratic candidate for the 2024 election ‘ says Tolksdorf. Even before the documents found became known, there were debates in the USA and also within the Democrats as to whether Joe Biden would be the right candidate for another candidacy due to his old age.

The democratic election campaign strategists in particular should now work all the more to ensure that these events do not affect the coming election campaign. “Biden’s credibility suffers above all from the case,” says Tolksdorf. “However, I believe that for most voters – and especially the swing voters – in just under two years it will be important above all whether there was an upswing under a democratic administration.”

The Biden administration has enacted several laws to reduce inflation, expand infrastructure and improve the labor market. If these laws take effect and the US is in good economic shape by the fall of 2024, the election chances for the Democrats would increase, says Tolksdorf. “Then this scandal will no longer play a major role.” But the expert adds one condition: “Should it not expand further.”

Sources used:

• Conversation with Dominik Tolksdorf, Research Fellow at the German Society for Foreign Relations with the USA/Transatlantic Relations department
• tagesschau.de: Secret documents in Biden’s house: “The government was not transparent”