However, there are significant differences between President Biden's and former president Trump's cases. For starters, while less than 20 documents have been discovered in Biden's residence and former office so far, Trump was in possession of over 300 classified documents. Additionally, upon discovery of the documents, Biden quickly turned them over to the National Archives and Records Administration. In contrast, Trump refused to return his documents despite the NARA's request in 2021 that they be returned, resulting with the FBI's raid on Mar-A-Lago over a year later. In short, while Biden has cooperated with the investigation and it seems like he simply misplaced the documents, Trump has actively tried to work against investigations into his possession of classified documents. Attorney General Merrick Garland has appointed separate special counsels to review both Biden's and Trump's possession of classified documents.
Both Democrats and Republicans have also criticized Biden for not announcing the discovery of the documents sooner, as the batch found in his former office and the batch found in his residence were discovered on November 2nd (only 6 days before the midterm elections) and December 20th, respectively. Additionally, despite the clear differences in both Biden's and Trump's cases, there is a possibility that people won't look further into the details of each case and incorrectly assume that the two cases are equivalent, despite Trump's situation being more serious due to both the number of documents and his lack of cooperation with investigators. This could potentially give Trump some cover in the 2024 presidential race, although a possible indictment from Garland would likely turn public opinion further against Trump. As the situation seems to be an unforced error by Biden's team, the case will likely blow over for the president after the special counsel completes its investigation, although not without attacks from Republicans.
Sources:
https://www.cbsnews.com/seattle/news/ag-merrick-garland-appoints-special-counsel-to-take-over-biden-classified-documents-investigation/?intcid=CNM-00-10abd1h
https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/10/politics/biden-classified-documents-what-matters/index.html
https://www.politico.com/news/2023/01/15/biden-trump-document-discovery-classified-00077988
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/biden-documents-classified-white-house-response-democrats/
9 comments:
I find this situation very confounding, as it is unclear who is really at fault. On one hand, it seems that Biden should accept responsibility for his actions, as both him and Trump had classified documents that could lead to serious issues if leaked. On the other hand, it is true that Biden's actions are less extreme, and he did cooperate with the investigation to help alleviate the situation as neatly as possible. Trump refused to work with the investigators, leading to a long and messy situation.
It's these sort of situations where I am reminded about the discussion of what justice really means to us, and whether we value taking the circumstances of each issue to give lenience in our judgements or if we value equality, and regardless of how someone broke the law, a broken law is still a broken law deserving of punishment.
According to the director of the National Security Archive, Tom Blanton, "Misplacing classified documents is very common. Happens all the time."
Yes, Biden should take accountability for his actions and undergo a damage assessment, but it's crucial to understand that Trump's Mar-a-Lago case and Biden's circumstance are not comparable as Andrew said. Unfortunately, I feel like the average American may not recognize the differences between Trump and Biden's cases due to the overwhelming about of bias news.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-64256465
I agree with Jayden in that it is unclear as to who is at fault for this controversy. Republicans blame Biden for being hypocritical as Trump was humiliated and charged for having undocumented papers in his own house. I think it is a matter of how each person handled the situation. Biden handled it with less resistance and complied with officials. Trump on the other hand tried to resist and overturn the investigation. I agree with this analysis of how people will see these two cases as the same even though there are major details that differentiate between the two. The big idea is how the two individuals handled the situation and how people need to be educated on this to not overestimate the problem.
I actually don't see many real life people complaining about this. Yes, it's all over the news but I don't think the average person really cares that Biden had classified documents because every president does this and Biden handled it the way he should have. I'm sure Obama and Bush are going through their drawers right now to make sure they don't have anything left over either. This feels like a non-issue created by journalists who are trying to recapture the outrage over Trump's Mar-a-Lago scandal and I think liberals are using it as an opportunity to virtue signal about Biden's honesty or something. Of course classified documents should be returned to the national archives but what do you expect from the American government and the dinosaurs that run it?
Regardless of whether or not the documents were simply just mishandled, its these type of mistakes that continue to whittle down the electability of Biden in 2024. Biden's age is already a major concern, even amongst Democrats, and unintentional mistakes like this provide more evidence that President Biden is no longer fit to be handling classified documents and holding the position of President and Commander-in-Chief.
Biden was irresponsible in the handling of documents, and it's somewhat hypocritical that he was not more careful with these documents after he called Trump "irresponsible." Although he is not "hoarding" the documents like Trump did, Biden is sloppy. Many Democrats still view Biden as honest with high ethics, but they are also frustrated with how this situation has given Trump a chance to avoid conviction on federal charges. The severity of the two cases is not the same, but with the declining trust people have in the government, I agree with everyone above that this will likely hurt Biden's case in the 2024 elections, especially with independent voters.
I agree with most of the people in the comments in that both Biden and Trump were in the wrong and that Biden handled the situation better in complying with authority. I think the discussion for 2024 candidates will be tough for the democrats, as Biden is seeing low approval ratings while Obama has seen some of the highest. Whether the Democrats will be going up against DeSantis or Trump in 2024, they will need a candidate that is able to restore faith in the people for the world of politics.
Although we will never know if Biden was actually clueless about the documents, he made the right decision to hand them over rather than holding on to them like Trump did. I agree that Biden was irresponsible with these important documents, but it was a less severe situation compared to Trump; I wonder if Biden used Trump's case to make it seem like although he made this mistake, it wasn't as bad as Trump's.
I don't think the two situations regarding Trump and Biden are comparable. Yes, it will affect Biden's image overall and will ding him down some approval points but when documents were found in Biden's possession he instantly agreed to open investigations revealing he has nothing to hide. On the other hand, Trump has prolonged the investigation and has been not complied with investigations. Its clear Trump has tried to hide something but Biden simply made a mistake and is willing to make up for it.
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