On Monday, the public was made aware of the discovery of 10 classified documents in a private office belonging to President Biden on November 2nd---just six days prior to the midterm elections.
This news follows the election of Kevin McCarthy as Speaker of the House who, during his first address, promised sweeping oversight. And, for many on the right, this document investigation serves as vindication for Trump, however, there are a variety of glaring differences that show both situations to be unique of one another.
Biden's documents had not been requested
NARA had not requested---or even mentioned, for that matter---the documents to Biden or his team. To the contrary, Biden's lawyer initiated their return by contacting NARA upon their discovery.
Biden's documents were found in a workspace, Trump's in a private [and, also, semi-public] residence
Biden's documents were found in an office that was being cleaned out, as it had not been used since his Vice Presidential term. Trump's documents were found in an unsecured closet outside of the private residence within the former president's private resort that has recently had numerous breaches by the public, according to various reporting.
Biden removed the documents found in his office during his term as Vice President, not on his way out the door
The documents found in Biden's office were removed during his Vice Presidential term---while being used for their intended purpose----while Trump grabbed his on the way out the door and, because he is no longer president, can't be used for their intended purpose. Though, it should be noted that Trump has not given a solid answer for why he had the documents.
Biden didn't lie to conceal the documents or downplay their importance
First telling NARA that he didn't have the documents, the story changed numerous times after an FBI raid of Mar-a-Lago rendered the documents in question. in addition, Trump told Sean Hannity of Fox News in an interview that the president had the ability to declassify documents "just by thinking about it"---a statement that is not true. Quite to the contrary, Biden's team reached out to NARA to make them aware of the documents and make arrangements for them to be returned.
Biden turned over the documents immediately upon discovery
Instead of incrementally releasing partial amounts of a large stash following months of attempts to retrieve them, Biden turned over the documents immediately upon their discovery.
And, of course, there's the fact that Biden only had 10 classified documents, some being top secret in nature, while Trump's count currently rests at 325---60 of which are top secret.
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