A Watergate historian compared the claims about Joe Biden's mishandling of classified documents to allegations against Donald Trump and found one was a scandal while the other a potential serious crime.
Republicans have unsurprisingly hammered President Biden over the classified files found in his home and post-vice-presidential office, but historian and author Garrett Graff wrote a column for the New York Times explaining that Trump's GOP allies were using bad faith comparisons to distract away from the special counsel investigation of the former president's refusal to return top-secret government documents after the National Archives
"Mr. Biden’s handling of the issue — especially given the more detailed timeline recently released by the White House — shows how an official who finds misfiled or improperly stored classified files should react," wrote Graff, the author of the book, Watergate: A New History. "Mr. Biden’s behavior stands in sharp contrast to that of Mr. Trump, who spent months fighting with the National Archives over the files and repeatedly assured the Justice Department that he had turned over all files, even when he was still — apparently knowingly — holding onto scores of classified files. He failed to comply with a legal subpoena, and only then did the F.B.I. move to search his Mar-a-Lago residence."
Trump's defenders have argued that his status as an ex-president gives him more latitude to hold onto classified records, but Graff argued the law he's accused of breaking -- the Presidential Records Act of 1978 -- was passed in response to Watergate to prevent Richard Nixon from destroying records to cover up his presidency's corruption and mendacity.
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"The history that happens inside the White House belongs to the nation — not to the people who work there," he wrote. "It’s a core principle of a country governed by the rule of law, not by men (and women)."
"In keeping documents that reportedly ranged from his letters with foreign leaders to potential nuclear secrets, Mr. Trump is accused of trying to steal America’s history — apparently with forethought," Graff added. "When confronted, he repeatedly resisted returning that history to its rightful owners for future generations ... Mr. Trump’s case isn’t just about classified material. At its core, it is about who controls America’s history."
