Biden as he left the White House for Delaware, last Friday (Jonathan Ernst/Archyde.com)
Until recently, US President Joe Biden seemed ready, more than ever, to announce his candidacy for a second presidential term, following his success in addressing the economic downturn in the United States and the Republicans’ inability to achieve the “red wave” in the midterm congressional elections that took place on November 8. However, the outbreak of the crisis of finding secret documents in sites belonging to him a few days ago re-shuffles the accounts of the American president.
Until the date of his “State of the Union” speech on February 7, before Congress, in its two chambers (the Senate and the House of Representatives), in accordance with American traditions, the American president will wage a fierce political and judicial battle, especially as the file of classified documents is exacerbated in a way that the president cannot control. , which threatens his chances of Run for a second term On the one hand, and also in successfully completing his mandate until January 20, 2025, on the other hand.
The Republican Party lurked
The disclosure of the document crisis coincides with the Republicans in Congress lurking in wait for the Democratic President, overcoming their recent division, which was evident in the running of 15 polling sessions before the election of Kevin McCarthy as Speaker of the House of Representatives in Congress.
The Republicans’ bickering had hardly ended until they began launching a series of investigations targeting Badin and his administration, amid expectations of an increase in its pace in the coming period, especially following the documents crisis came as a free gift to them.
Documents dating back to the period when he was vice president under Barack Obama (2009-2017) were found at Biden’s home in Wilmington, Delaware, following similar documents were found in a “locked safe” at the Ben Biden Research Center, which is associated with the University of Pennsylvania. where Biden previously had an office.
10 years in prison is the penalty for mishandling confidential information
The documents discovered in Biden’s office were classified as “sensitive and classified information,” according to CNN, indicating that the material may include data on intelligence gathering methods and sources.
The documents reportedly included information on Ukraine, Iran and Britain. However, the two-month gap between the discovery of the documents days before the Midterm electionsAnd its announcement this month raised several questions regarding the transparency of the White House.
The case took on a greater dimension, last Thursday, with the appointment of Justice Minister Merrick Garland, Counselor Robert Hoare, as an investigator in the matter. Garland said in a brief statement: “Hore has the authority to investigate any person or entity that may have violated the law.” In turn, Hoare stressed in a statement following his appointment that “I will conduct the investigation assigned to him with fairness and integrity.”
Former President Donald Trump appointed Hoare attorney general in Maryland in 2018. He continued in office until Trump’s term ends on January 20, 2021.
In an effort to contain anger over the management of the classified documents file, Richard Sauber, Biden’s attorney, confirmed that the president intended to “cooperate” with Hoare. “We are confident that a thorough investigation will show that these documents were inadvertently misplaced, and that the President and his attorneys acted promptly when this error was discovered,” he said in a statement. In turn, the White House spokeswoman, Karen Jean-Pierre, said during a press conference, Thursday evening: “Biden works with the greatest degree of transparency.”
Classified documents have several classifications, including a “special” classification, which refers to information that might harm national security if published. A classification of “secret” refers to material that, if published, might cause “serious harm” to national security.
The “top secret” classification relates to “most sensitive information” and covers records that might cause “exceptionally grave harm” to national security if released. Theoretically, the US president has the right to decide what information is classified and what is not.
In practice, however, the president delegates responsibility to cabinet and agency heads, who may then pass the responsibility on to others who work for them. The information remains classified “as long as national security considerations require it.” The penalty for mishandling confidential information ranges from 3 to 10 years in prison and heavy fines.
And the difference between the Biden case and the case Secret documents found in Trump’s possession At Mar-a-Lago, Florida, last August, big. The number of documents found in Trump’s custody is more than 300, while Biden has no fewer than 10 documents.
And at a time when investigators are considering possible charges once morest Trump related to obstruction of justice or destruction of records by him or others, in addition to the possibility of mishandling government secrets, Biden is cooperating fully with the authorities, especially since he voluntarily handed over the documents.
But all this did not prevent the Republicans from seizing the moment and attacking Biden. Republican James Cooper said that “with or without a special attorney general,” the House of Representatives will investigate President Biden’s “improper handling of classified documents.”
Republican US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy urged Congress to investigate Biden. Republican lawmakers also launched an investigation, on Friday evening, into the issue of the Department of Justice’s handling of classified documents related to Biden.
James Comer: The house where the documents were found is registered to Hunter Biden
And they sent a letter to Garland, demanding access to all documents and communications related to it, which took place between the ministry, the FBI, the White House, and Biden’s lawyer.
And the Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Jim Jordan and his colleague Mike Johnson, said in the letter that “it is unclear when the Department first learned of the existence of these documents, and whether it actively concealed this information from the public on the eve of the elections.” They set January 27 as a deadline for a meeting with Garland to discuss the issue in the House of Representatives.
Around Hunter Biden
In turn, the Chairman of the House Oversight Committee, James Comer, sent a letter to the White House, asking if Hunter Biden, the president’s son, had access to these documents. Comer stated that “the house where the documents were found is registered in the name of Hunter Biden,” noting that “the committee is concerned that President Biden stored confidential documents in the same location where his son resided while participating in international business deals with opponents of the United States.” .
The matter relates to Hunter’s past business dealings in Ukraine, and is the subject of an investigation soon to be launched by Republicans. Hunter has another scandal, related with a laptopHe was forgotten in a repair shop in Delaware in April 2019, and the New York Post revealed it in mid-October 2020, a few weeks before the US presidential elections at the time.
On this computer, a large number of emails, pictures and financial documents were found that Hunter exchanged with his family and partners, and they shed light on how Joe Biden’s son used his political influence to do business in other countries, especially Ukraine and China.
The FBI gathered enough evidence to charge Hunter Biden with tax offenses and making false statements to buy a gun, with Hunter under federal investigations since 2018.
And not far from setbacks for Biden, the Republican camp in the House of Representatives launched a parliamentary investigation, on Friday evening, into the chaotic withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan in 2021, during which 13 American soldiers were killed in an attack. Biden’s setbacks have spilled over into the Democratic Party, with Democratic allies expressing frustration with White House officials’ approach to the classified documents found, calling on the administration to be more open in its handling of the issue.
(The New Arab, AFP, Archyde.com)
