Plus, how Biden’s situation compares and contrasts with Donald Trump’s.
Here we go again.
A set of classified documents connected to the current President of the United States were found where they shouldn’t be, and now the Department of Justice is conducting an investigation into how it happened. It’s only been a few days since news of this situation first broke, and already the details — and the déjà vu — might feel more than a little bit dizzying.
As much as it might feel like it, though, it’s not just a simple matter of swapping “Donald Trump” with “Joe Biden” and “Mar-a-Lago” with “Wilmington.” In fact, these two cases are quite different, which is maybe why it’s all the more challenging to understand what, exactly, is going on with Biden’s classified documents and why it’s causing such a stir.
Here’s a breakdown of what we know about those documents, what the special counsel appointment means, and why this is — and isn’t — similar to the classified document situation in Mar-a-Lago earlier this year.
What we know about Biden’s classified documents
Here’s a breakdown of what’s happening this time, explained as simply as possible:
Over the course of the last week, news broke that a number of classified documents (dated from when now-President Biden was vice president) were found in places they shouldn’t have been.
The first location where classified documents were found was a Washington, D.C. think tank called the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement. Biden founded the center after serving as vice president and spent time there before running for president in 2020.
Approximately 10 classified documents were found at the center last November, according to the timeline of events laid out by U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland.
The next location where classified documents were found was the garage of Biden’s home in Wilmington, Delaware. In a statement, a Biden attorney explained that after those initial documents were found at the think tank, Biden’s lawyers conducted a thorough search of other likely locations where classified documents might have been kept, including both his Wilmington home and his vacation home in Rehoboth Beach.
“[On December 20], the lawyers discovered among personal and political papers a small number of additional … records with classified markings,” explained Richard Sauber, special counsel to the president. (This isn’t the same person as the special counsel who’s been appointed to investigate Biden; Sauber works for the president.)
Sauber said the Department of Justice was “immediately notified” of these documents as soon as they were found. Biden has also confirmed that he is “cooperating fully … with the Justice Department’s review.”
On January 14, Sauber said in a statement that an additional six pages had been found in a search of Biden’s private library. One page had been discovered earlier in the week, and Sauber found the remaining five while he was facilitating its retrieval by the DOJ.
“While I was transferring it to the DOJ officials who accompanied me, five additional pages with classification markings were discovered among the material with it, for a total of six pages,” Sauber said. “The DOJ officials with me immediately took possession of them.”
To be clear, all these documents relate to Biden’s time as vice president in the Obama administration, not to his time as president. And if you’re wondering why, again, it’s such a big deal for these documents to be found in unexpected places, here’s a simple explanation:
According to federal law, all classified documents are supposed to be shipped to the National Archives when they’re no longer needed by the current administration. This is a highly critical process for the country, not just for historic archiving purposes, but for national security purposes as well — which is why, each time classified documents are found in places they shouldn’t be found, it is a very big deal.
What are Republicans saying about the latest findings?
Rep. James Comer, the GOP chairman of the House Oversight Committee, has demanded that President Biden’s house in Wilmington, Delaware keep a visitor log after a small number of classified documents from his time as vice president were discovered there. There’s no legal requirement for Presidents to disclose visitors to their homes or the White House.
The Biden administration reinstated a log of official guests to the White House (and released records last May), after President Trump suspended the practice during his time in office.
Notably, Comer has said that he won’t make the same demand regarding Mar-a-Lago, where more than 100 classified documents from Trump’s time as President were discovered during an FBI raid.
“I don’t feel like we need to spend a whole lot of time because the Democrats have done that for the past six years,” he told CNN.
Who is Robert Hur, the special counsel investigating Biden?
On January 12, Attorney General Merrick Garland announced that he had appointed Robert Hur, a former U.S. attorney for Maryland, as the special counsel in charge of handling an investigation into the classified documents.
According to the order signed by Garland, Hur will be investigating “the possible unauthorized removal and retention of classified documents or other records discovered.”
This investigation is still in the earliest stages, so it’s impossible to speculate too much on the timeline. More documents could be found in the weeks to come, which could complicate the process. There’s also no word yet on what type of classified information was found in these documents. The subject matter, too, will likely impact the intensity of the investigation — and, let’s face it, the level of media coverage — over the months to come.
To put it into perspective: Even though the word “classified” tends to make one think of James Bond-esque moments between foreign leaders, there are plenty of flat-out boring government papers that are still technically classified. Only time will tell what type of “classified” these latest documents actually are.
As for special counsel Hur, he was described by Garland as a prosecutor with “a long and distinguished career.” Most recently he was working at Gibson Dunn, a corporate defense firm.
Here’s a brief bio of Hur, as given by Garland: “In 2003, he joined the department’s criminal division, where he worked on counterterrorism, corporate fraud, and appellate matters. From 2007 until 2014, Mr. Hur served as an assistant U.S. attorney for the district of Maryland, where he prosecuted matters ranging from violent crime to financial fraud. In 2017, Mr. Hur rejoined the department as the principal associate deputy attorney general. In 2018, he was nominated and confirmed to serve as a US attorney for the district of Maryland. As U.S. attorney, he supervised some of the department’s more important national security, public corruption and other high-profile matters.”
How this situation compares and contrasts to Trump’s classified document fiasco
Given all this talk about classified documents over the last week, you’d be forgiven for feeling like you’re living through a blast from the past.
Let’s get one thing straight immediately: Yes, this might feel reminiscent of the documents that were found at Mar-a-Lago months ago. And while the situations have certain similarities (and are both being investigated by the Department of Justice), there are also some pretty stark differences to keep in mind.
First, Trump and his aides consistently resisted the government’s efforts to retrieve the classified documents at Mar-a-Lago, to the point that the FBI had to conduct a raid. In contrast, Biden’s lawyers actually reported an additional set of documents to the DOJ themselves, and the Biden administration has cooperated fully with the investigation so far.
What’s more, in Trump’s case, there were several hundred classified files and thousands of unclassified files found in numerous locations throughout Mar-a-Lago, many of which were not under lock-and-key. In contrast, only a small amount of documents were found on Biden’s property, and they were all in secured locations.
