After being sharp for Donald Trump regarding his handling of classified documents, documents have now also been found at US President Joe Biden’s home and a special prosecutor has been appointed. The criticism of his predecessor turns once morest Biden. Or are there any differences?
Secret documents from his time as vice president under Barack Obama have been found in Joe Biden’s private home, the White House reported Thursday. On Monday it became known that Biden had previously found “a small number” of secret documents. That happened in November, but the facts were only now released.
US Attorney General Merrick Garland has therefore appointed a special prosecutor to investigate the case. For the first time in American history, both the sitting president and his predecessor are part of an investigation into the possession of classified government documents.
“Biden is paying the price here for the polarization of American society,” says Willem Post, an America expert affiliated with the Clingendael Institute. “It is quick to think here: what we have done with Trump, we must now also do with Biden, in order to avoid double standards.”
Equal height
Although much is still unclear regarding the exact content of the documents, neither of them is authorized to keep secret documents. After a (vice) presidency, the entire archive must be transferred to the National Archives. The fact that a special prosecutor has now been appointed for both Trump and Biden is a healthy starting point, says professor of American politics Bart Kerremans (KU Leuven). “After all, you can’t make a comparison if you don’t put both things on an equal footing.”
Biden claimed for years that Trump was careless with government documents, that is now turning once morest him. In that respect, it is no coincidence that Rober Hur was chosen for a prosecutor who was appointed under the Trump presidency, Kerremans believes, precisely to avoid criticism from the Republican side regarding impartiality.
The fact that Biden was only vice president at the time and not president is not an extenuating circumstance, according to Post. “Even a vice president can have access to equally important documents.”
Obstruction of justice
Yet there is an important distinction between the two cases. In the first place, the special prosecutors will conduct investigations into the intentions. If documents have been deliberately withheld, it is effectively once morest the law. Even following being questioned by the National Archives, Trump refused to turn over government documents for more than a year. Ultimately, it took a subpoena and an FBI search of his resort in Flordia.
“On images you can see how documents are still being moved at his resort, which might indicate that Trump deliberately tried to withhold them,” says Kerremans. “With the data available to us, we may be able to conclude that Trump was involved in obstruction of justice. That’s the big difference with Biden. When those documents were found, his lawyers contacted the National Archives themselves. But that was back in November, it’s a bit lame that the White House is only coming out now that the media is unpacking it. It would have been better the other way around.”
In addition, Biden is currently dealing with ten documents, while more than three hundred of the thousands of documents found at Trump were classified as secret. “Although that quantity is ultimately not important,” says Kerremans. “What matters most is its content.”
Whether it will really lead to legal consequences is doubtful. Even if Biden were to turn out to be malicious, he has the advantage that a sitting president is generally not charged by the Justice Department.
Then Trump seems to be in a more difficult position, although Post thinks it is still quite a challenge to clarify whether what he has done is really punishable. Trump is a master at playing with words. For example, he says he has lifted the secrecy of the documents in question as president, although no one can confirm that.”
Political boxing match
The real consequences are more likely to translate into the political scene. Both Biden and Trump are preparing for reelection in 2024. After a mediocre start to Trump’s campaign, in which his loyalists were punished in the midterms, this gives Trump ammunition once more. Biden just did well once more in the polls, so according to Post, these revelations come at a bad time.
Still, Kerremans does not think that many Americans really care regarding those secret documents. “If Trump would be disadvantaged by anything, it would be from the investigation into the storming of the Capitol.”
However, this is a dream scenario for the Republicans to put the heat on Biden. “Their strategy is to damage the image of Biden as a president who brings chaos following Trump,” said Kerremans. “Think of it like a boxing match where one kneels to a fatal blow, but it is the result of many small blows before it. The Republicans are also trying to bring Biden down in 2024 by now each contributing to the image of an old, corrupt man with double standards.”
