Here are the stark differences between Trump and Biden classified docs cases: legal experts
CNN reported on Monday that some classified documents were recently discovered in President Joe Biden's items in a storage office, which is drawing comparisons to former President Donald Trump's document scandal that has been referred to a special counsel in the Justice Department.
However, there are some key differences between the Biden case and the Trump case.
National security lawyer Bradley Moss took to Twitter to note that the story is drawing a stark contrast with Trump.
In particular, he cited a statement from Richard Sauber, special counsel to the president, who said that "that on the same day the material was discovered, Nov. 2, the White House counsel's office notified the National Archives, which took possession of the materials the following morning.”
"This right here is the difference. They immediately cooperated," Moss explained.
As Moss pointed out, the day the documents were discovered the Biden team reached out to the National Archives and it was sent to the Justice Department without incident.
“The White House is cooperating with the National Archives and the Department of Justice regarding the discovery of what appear to be Obama-Biden Administration records, including a small number of documents with classified markings,” Sauber said in a statement. “The documents were discovered when the President’s personal attorneys were packing files housed in a locked closet to prepare to vacate office space at the Penn Biden Center in Washington, D.C. The President periodically used this space from mid-2017 until the start of the 2020 campaign. On the day of this discovery, November 2, 2022, the White House Counsel’s Office notified the National Archives. The Archives took possession of the materials the following morning.”
"This is how you properly deal with this matter. Not lies, concealment and obstruction," said Moss.
Allison Gill, the Mueller She Wrote podcaster, compared the Biden discovery to the classified documents found in Trump's Palm Beach storage unit or the classified emails that were on Hillary Clinton's server.
"No crime. Very unlike the ones found in Trump's desk, co-mingled with non-classified, having lied about having them," she noted.
"If you can’t grasp the difference between finding improperly stored classified docs that you immediately turn over to NARA vs. obstructing and lying in a federal investigation regarding improperly stored classified docs, I cannot help you," Moss said.
LA Times legal analyst and former prosecutor Harry Litman predicted that the nuance isn't likely to stop Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) "and the new Hit Squad from howling to the heavens...."
National security lawyer Mark Zaid agreed with his colleague Moss that it happens commonly and usually results in administrative action, not a criminal action.
"Trump and team would have fared exactly same way had he not delayed, obstructed & potentially lied about existence of classified records at Mar-a-Lago. Big difference," Zaid said.
Trump previously complained that it was unfair that Joe Biden's home was never raided by the FBI.
Former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti explained that he knows the U.S. Attorney that has been assigned to this and knows him to be "smart, fair, and has good judgment."
"I don’t expect charges here. Biden didn’t know he had these documents and returned them when they were found. If Trump did the same, he wouldn’t be in hot water," said Mariotti.
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