After it was discovered that Joe Biden, like Trump, was found to have kept confidential materials after leaving office, a former advisor to Donald Trump urged that a special counsel should look into how Biden handled sensitive information.
On November 2, documents belonging to Biden—ten files with unknown contents—were discovered in his think tank’s office in Washington, DC. The Justice Department said on Monday that the files had been handed over and an inquiry had begun, but the president claimed he was ignorant of their existence before that.
At his Mar-a-Lago residence, Trump’s papers, which contained about 300 pages labeled as such, were discovered in January 2022. Justice Department and National Archives and Records Administration representatives had been negotiating a handover with Trump’s team for months, but the talks broke down. In August, the DoJ took the rare step of conducting a raid at Mar-a-Lago to take the documents.
Special counsel Jack Smith was appointed on November 18 to look into the controversy surrounding the Mar-a-Lago sensitive materials; now, Trump backers are demanding that Biden receive the same scrutiny.
Trump’s senior advisor Stephen Miller tweeted, “Special Counsel. Now.”
Joe Biden is pictured in Mexico City with his wife and Mexican president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, with his wife Beatriz Gutierrez. Biden was in Mexico when the news of the documents broke
Attorney General Merrick Garland, left, and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas are seen in Mexico City on Monday as part of the top-level delegation
On Monday in Mexico City, as a reporter shouts a question about the secret documents discovered in his think tank’s offices in Washington, DC, Biden looks down at his briefing materials. As the press pack is hustled out, Secretary of State Antony Blinken raises his head.
Others demanded that Attorney General Merrick Garland immediately begin a probe into Biden’s activities.
How the Biden records were found
NOVEMBER 2: Ten documents were discovered as Biden’s lawyers were preparing to depart the DC think tank office.
The data allegedly reside in a box with other unclassified documents inside a locked closet in a folder.
NOVEMBER 8: Biden and his party fare better than anticipated in the midterm elections.
A PROBE INTO TRUMP’S STORAGE OF CONFIDENTIAL DOCUMENTS IN HIS FLORIDA HOME WILL BE LEADERED BY JACK SMITH, THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT ANNOUNCES ON NOVEMBER 18TH. Smith was the former head prosecutor for the special court in The Ha
JANUARY 9: The Justice Department declares that a probe into how the secret materials got to Biden’s think tank has been opened. Biden claims he had no idea any sensitive information was kept there, but his backers point out that his own attorneys turned over the records, while Trump’s team sought to keep hold of Biden’s cache.
Trying to rig the 2020 election, Jenna Ellis, a member of Trump’s legal team, tweeted: “Biden’s DOJ is evaluating Biden’s confidential docs?” Perhaps we ought to think about a specific master.
Former British prime minister David Cameron’s advisor, podcaster Steve Hilton, claimed that Biden’s actions were worse than those of Trump.
Vice presidents, unlike presidents, are not permitted to declassify records, albeit he did not explain why.
He claimed that Joe Biden’s theft of sensitive documents was “certainly worse than anything Trump has been accused of.”
We’ll know that Equal Justice Under Law has been destroyed by hyperpartisan Democrats if Merrick Garland doesn’t pursue Biden with at least as much vigor as he is chasing Trump.
Others, though, believed that Trump had committed a more serious crime than Biden by keeping sensitive information at Mar-a-Lago.
Former Barack Obama adviser Dan Pfeiffer tweeted: “Team Biden uncovered the records, contacted the archives right away, and returned them.”
Trump and his attorneys fooled authorities on numerous occasions and took every precaution to prevent handing them back.
These are different from one another.
Former federal prosecutor Joyce Vance concurred.
Big distinctions between this and Trump’s Mar-a-Lago issue, she said. They were discovered in an office atmosphere rather than in Biden’s house.
The Biden team quickly offered the Archives the news of the discovery and turned them over. Compare apples with oranges.
In order to review the 10 files found by Biden’s private attorneys while moving paperwork at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement, Garland has asked John Lausch, the U.S. attorney in Chicago, to carry out the review.
The New York Times said that the probe might result in the appointment of a special counsel.
In the instance of Trump, the Justice Department was informed in January 2022 that there were secret documents present at Mar-a-Lago. After considerable back and forth regarding the return of the files, the special counsel was finally chosen ten months later.
If a special counsel will be appointed to look into Biden as well, it is still unknown two months after the Justice Department learned about his secret papers.
The 10 files’ contents, location, and whether Biden was aware of their existence are all still unknown.
Some top-secret files with the designation “sensitive compartmented information,” or SCI, which is used for very sensitive information gathered from intelligence sources, were included in the classified materials.
Regarding the news of the probe, Biden has not yet made any remarks.
During a meeting with President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Monday in Mexico City, he declined to respond to shouted queries about how the documents got inside the offices.
The White House is collaborating with the National Archives and the Department of Justice about the discovery of what appear to be Obama-Biden administration papers, including a small number of documents with secret markings, the White House special counsel said in a statement on Monday.
Six days prior to the midterms in November, the documents were discovered.
The Oversight Committee’s current chairman, Republican James Comer, announced late on Monday that he would write to the White House and National Archives to request information.
The announcement was posted by the House Judiciary GOP along with alert sirens.
Trump took the lead in the outcry on Monday.
When will the FBI search Joe Biden’s numerous residences, perhaps even the White House? He stated on social media that “these materials were obviously not declassified.”
When a search of Biden’s residence would take place, Donald Trump Jr.
When will the FBI’s Hostage Rescue Team raid one of Vice President Biden’s numerous vacation properties, which were purchased and paid for in some manner by a lifetime of being a modest public servant? asked Donald Jr.
Former White House physician turned Texas congressman Ronny Jackson described the news as “amazing.”
He tweeted, “It’s just come to light that Biden had HIGHLY CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS inappropriately stored in one of his private offices.”
‘INCREDIBLE! THE FBI IS WHERE? WHAT PLACE IS THE SCARY RAID? In this nation, there are two separate justice systems: one for them and one for us.
“They just announced Joe Biden illegally kept confidential materials from his vice-presidency in his hands,” claimed conservative radio presenter Clay Travis.
I’m old enough to recall hearing in the news that this was not conceivable. That Trump indictment is a total bust. This story is over between Hillary and Biden right now.
The Department of Justice has launched an investigation to review classified documents from Joe Biden’s Vice Presidency found in a Washington D.C. office for his think tank
‘BREAKING: Classified documents from Joe Biden’s time as vice president were discovered at his private office,’ Texas lawmaker Troy Nehls tweeted. When is the FBI going to raid his house?
Biden “stole” the documents, according to Arizona congressman Andy Biggs, who also cited a New York Post article from April pointing out that the University of Pennsylvania, which houses the Biden institute, received funding from China.
When Biden was vice president, he stole sensitive materials and kept them at his think tank. The VP lacks the authority to declassify sensitive information.
And the CCP provided $54 million in funding to this “think group.”
Six days before the November midterm elections, Attorney General Merrick Garland requested that the U.S. attorney in Chicago analyze ten documents that Biden’s private attorneys found at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement.
According to the article, the records were discovered as Biden’s attorneys were closing up shop.
The data were allegedly in a box with other unclassified materials inside a locked closet in a folder.
According to the CBS story, Biden is unaware of the documents’ contents, and it will now be investigated how they arrived at the office one mile from the White House.
All presidential and vice-presidential records must be transferred to the National Archives at the conclusion of the term in order for them to be safely stored, according to the Presidential Records Act.
The White House Counsel’s office subsequently informed the National Archives of the discovery, and on November 3 the National Archives took control of the records.
The Northern District of Illinois’ U.S. Attorney, John Lausch, will now decide what to do next, including whether to launch a further investigation or retain a special prosecutor.
Lausch is one of the two U.S. attorneys that Trump has proposed.
The investigation of Hunter Biden is being led by the other, Delaware U.S. Attorney David Weiss.
John Lausch, the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, will now decide what to do next, including whether to launch an additional investigation or hire a special prosecutor. Lausch is one of the two U.S. attorneys that Trump has proposed. The inquiry of Hunter Biden is being led by David Weiss, a US Attorney from Delaware.
The president’s special counsel, Richard Sauber, told CBS that the materials had never been the focus of a previous request or investigation by the Archives.
“Since that discovery, the President’s personal attorneys have worked with the Archives and the Department of Justice in a process to ensure that any materials from the Obama-Biden Administration are properly in the Archives’ possession,” the White House stated.
On 60 Minutes in September, Biden was questioned about the photograph of documents found at Mar-a-Lago following the FBI raid in August.
“How is that even possible? I don’t understand how somebody could be that careless, the president continued. Furthermore, it is completely irresponsible.
From Trump’s Palm Beach property, more than 300 top-secret documents were found.
From 2017 until he made his 2019 presidential campaign announcement, Biden worked out of the Washington, D.C., office.
It was formerly the residence of his closest advisers and cabinet members.
While top White House aide Steve Richetti served as managing director in 2019, Blinken served as the center’s managing director in 2018.
As a result of being selected as a Benjamin Franklin Presidential Practice Professor in 2017, Biden is now on leave from the University of Pennsylvania.
According to CBS, he has received $917,643 in compensation for speaking and running the center.
His late son Beau, daughter Ashley, and granddaughter Naomi all earned degrees there, and his granddaughter Natalie is a first-year student.
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