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The revelation that potentially classified materials were discovered astatine deliberation vessel offices formerly utilized by President Joe Biden has prompted questions connected however the condition compares to the seizure past year of hundreds of documents marked arsenic classified from Mar-a-Lago, the Florida residence of erstwhile President Donald Trump.
A side-by-side look astatine the similarities and differences betwixt the 2 situations:
HOW MANY CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS ARE WE TALKING ABOUT?
BIDEN: “A tiny fig of documents with classified markings” were discovered connected Nov. 2, 2022, successful a locked closet astatine the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement, a deliberation vessel successful Washington, arsenic Biden’s idiosyncratic attorneys were clearing retired the offices, according to Richard Sauber, peculiar counsel to the president.
Biden kept an bureau astatine the Penn Center aft helium near the vice presidency successful 2017 until soon earlier helium launched his 2020 statesmanlike campaign. It was affiliated with the University of Pennsylvania and continued to run independently of the Biden administration.
TRUMP: Roughly 300 documents with classification markings — including immoderate astatine the apical concealed level — person been recovered from Trump since helium near bureau successful January 2021.
In January 2022, the National Archives and Records Administration retrieved 15 boxes of documents, telling Justice Department officials they contained “a lot” of classified material. In August, FBI agents took about 33 boxes and containers of 11,000 documents from Mar-a-Lago, including astir 100 with classification markings recovered successful a retention country and an office.
HOW QUICKLY WERE THE CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS TURNED OVER?
BIDEN: His idiosyncratic attorneys instantly alerted the White House counsel’s office, who notified NARA, which took custody of the documents the adjacent day, Sauber said.
“Since that discovery, the President’s idiosyncratic attorneys person cooperated with the Archives and the Department of Justice successful a process to guarantee that immoderate Obama-Biden Administration records are appropriately successful the possession of the Archives,” Sauber said.
TRUMP: A Trump typical told NARA successful December 2021 that statesmanlike records had been recovered astatine Mar-a-Lago, astir a twelvemonth aft Trump near office. Fifteen boxes of records containing immoderate classified worldly were transferred from Mar-Lago to NARA successful January.
A fewer months later, investigators from the Justice Department and FBI visited Mar-a-Lago to get much accusation astir classified materials taken to Florida. Federal officials besides served a subpoena for immoderate documents believed to beryllium astatine the estate.
In August 2022, FBI agents conducting a hunt retrieved 33 boxes from Mar-a-Lago. The hunt came aft lawyers for Trump provided a sworn certification that each authorities records had been returned.
COULD EITHER PRESIDENT FACE CHARGES RELATED TO THE DISCOVERY OF THE DOCUMENTS?
BIDEN: Despite the find of classified materials successful a Biden office, determination is nary denotation Biden himself was alert of the beingness of the records earlier they were turned over.
The medication has besides said that the records were turned implicit the aforesaid time they were discovered, without immoderate intent to conceal. That’s important due to the fact that the Justice Department historically looks for willfulness, oregon an intent to mishandle authorities secrets, successful deciding whether to bring transgression charges.
But adjacent if the Justice Department were to find the lawsuit prosecutable connected the evidence, the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel has concluded that a president is immune from prosecution during his clip successful office. Former peculiar counsel Robert Mueller cited that guidance successful deciding not to scope a decision connected whether Trump should look charges arsenic portion of his probe into coordination betwixt the 2016 Trump run and Russia.
Attorney General Merrick Garland asked U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois John Lausch — 1 of the fewer U.S. attorneys to beryllium held implicit from Trump’s medication — to reappraisal the substance aft the Archives referred the contented to the department, according to a idiosyncratic acquainted with the substance but not authorized to sermon it publicly.
TRUMP: The erstwhile president perchance faces vulnerability for obstruction implicit the protracted conflict to retrieve the documents themselves. And, since he’s nary longer successful office, helium wouldn’t beryllium afforded protections from imaginable prosecution that would use to a sitting president.
In November, Garland appointed Jack Smith, a seasoned warfare crimes authoritative with a inheritance successful nationalist corruption probes, to pb investigations into Trump’s retention of classified documents, arsenic good arsenic cardinal aspects of a abstracted probe involving the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection and efforts to undo the 2020 election.
WHAT DID THE PRESIDENTS HAVE TO SAY ABOUT THE DISCOVERY OF THE DOCUMENTS?
BIDEN: Answering questions from journalists astatine the North American Leaders Summit successful Mexico connected Tuesday, Biden said helium was “surprised to learn” that the documents had been recovered astatine his deliberation tank. He said helium didn’t cognize what was successful the worldly but takes classified documents “very seriously.”
He said his squad acted appropriately by rapidly turning the documents over.
“They did what they should person done,” Biden said. “They instantly called the Archives.”
In September, speaking of the concern with Trump, Biden told CBS’ “60 Minutes” that the find of top-secret documents astatine Mar-a-Lago raised concerns that delicate information was compromised and called it “irresponsible.”
TRUMP: Trump has claimed astatine times that helium declassified the documents that helium took with him — though helium has provided nary grounds of that. He said successful a Fox News interview successful September that a president tin declassify worldly “even by reasoning astir it.”
The erstwhile president has called the Mar-a-Lago hunt an “unannounced raid” that was “not indispensable oregon appropriate” and represented “dark times for our Nation.”
Of Biden, Trump weighed successful Monday connected his societal media site, asking, “When is the FBI going to raid the galore homes of Joe Biden, possibly adjacent the White House?”
WHAT ARE THE POLITICAL IMPLICATIONS OF THE DISCOVERY OF THE DOCUMENTS?
BIDEN: While improbable to impact the Justice Department’s decision-making with respect to charging Trump successful his ain case, Biden’s papers disclosure could intensify skepticism among Republicans and others who are already captious that authorities is the ground for probes of the erstwhile president.
There are besides imaginable ramifications successful a new, GOP-controlled Congress wherever Republicans are promising to motorboat wide investigations of Biden’s administration.
Rep. Jim Jordan, seat of the almighty House Judiciary Committee, said Monday that the American nationalist deserved to cognize earlier astir the revelation of Biden’s classified documents. The Ohio Republican is among House Republicans pushing for the instauration of a “select subcommittee connected the Weaponization of the Federal government” wrong the Judiciary Committee.
Rep. Mike Turner, the apical Republican connected the House Intelligence Committee, has requested that the U.S. quality assemblage behaviour a “damage assessment” of the documents recovered astatine the Penn Center.
TRUMP: In its contiguous aftermath, Trump and his supporters seized connected the Mar-a-Lago hunt arsenic a partisan onslaught from Democrats who had agelong been desirous of removing him from office.
During his 2024 run motorboat successful November, astatine the aforesaid nine agents had searched months earlier, Trump referenced the probes against him, casting himself arsenic “a victim” of wayward prosecutors and the “festering, rot and corruption of Washington.”
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Meg Kinnard tin beryllium reached astatine http://twitter.com/MegKinnardAP
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Associated Press writers Eric Tucker successful Washington and Zeke Miller contributed to this report.
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