The New York Times stated that Joe Biden’s secret mess might hinder the prosecution of Donald Trump for mishandling papers. On Tuesday, Barack Obama’s spokesperson would to comment on whether the former president was examining his houses for sensitive materials.
With the saga of classified documents continuing to unfold – Trump dragged his feet for 15 months and is now being investigated by a special counsel; Biden said he had “no regrets,” yet five searches have yielded documents – it was revealed on Tuesday that Mike Pence, the former vice president, had discovered classified documents at his own Indiana home.
Fox News asked Obama’s communications director, Hannah Hankins, on Tuesday if he too was doing home searches.
“At this time, we have nothing for you,” she told the channel.
On December 1, Barack Obama is seen at a rally for Senator Raphael Warnock in Atlanta. The former president’s spokeswoman refused to comment on whether he is currently investigating if secret materials were erroneously stored in his houses.
Special counsels are investigating Joe Biden (left) and Donald Trump (right) for their handling of secret material.
The office of George W. Bush stated that he returned all secret materials upon departing the White House.
Some legal experts have decided that Biden’s careless handling of secret information could make prosecuting Trump more difficult, despite the cases’ seeming dissimilarity.
Biden and his team notified the Justice Department of the existence of the documents and turned them over, but Trump argued for months about the circumstances surrounding his own documents.
Peter Baker, senior White House writer for The New York Times, commented, “Politically, it has effectively absolved former President Donald J. Trump of the charge of hoarding secret papers.”
David Axelrod, a former senior adviser to President Obama, told Baker that despite the fact that Trump’s and Biden’s conduct were vastly different, ‘in the court of public opinion’ they may be regarded as equivalent.
At least a few documents were discovered in the garage of Biden’s home in Wilmington, Delaware. Beau and Hunter Biden, his sons, repaired the automobile for him.
A box labeled “Important Documents + Photographs” was apparently left open on a table in the Delaware residence of Vice President Joe Biden.
Some of the sensitive documents discovered at Mar-a-Lago following the August 8 raid are pictured here.
The most recent poll reveals that a majority of American voters believe that both Biden and Trump are at fault, but that Trump’s conduct were more egregious.
Seventy-seven percent of those surveyed by ABC News and Ipsos believed Trump improperly handled confidential documents, while 64 percent said Biden had.
Trump is embracing the opportunity to downplay his own behavior and argue he is being punished unfairly, telling supporters at a rally on Tuesday that he is ‘being persecuted’ by a ‘Trump-deranged’ special prosecutor, but Biden is ‘being treated with kid gloves.’
Stanley M. Brand, a former House of Representatives general counsel from Washington, DC, told the newspaper that Trump may very possibly contest the procedure.
“There is also the issue of selective prosecution: treating similar cases differently based on a suspect classification or criterion,” said Brand, adding that Attorney General Merrick Garland was in the difficult position of having been appointed by Vice President Joe Biden and overseeing the special counsel investigation into him.
“I would argue that he has a conflict of interest as a presidential appointee,” he said.
A disagreement that cannot be resolved by appointing a special counsel, as he retains ultimate accountability under DOJ regulation.