Biden’s Classified Documents: What It Could Mean for the 2024 Elections
President Joe Biden, former President Donald Trump and former Vice President Mike Pence are all under fire for their reported mishandling of classified documents. Credit: Tayeb MEZAHDIA from Pixabay
President Joe Biden, former President Donald Trump and former Vice President Mike Pence are all facing public scrutiny for their reported mishandling of classified documents. Amid a GOP effort to equate Biden’s handling of classified documents with Trump’s, there are notable distinctions that differentiate each situation, particularly in how each responded to the discoveries and dealt with authorities.
As the 2024 race for the presidency draws closer, the political implications of this saga grows. Here’s what you should know about the classified document discoveries and their implications for the next election:
On November 2nd — a week before the midterm elections— Biden’s lawyers found classified documents in his Delaware residence dating back to his time as Vice President, according to the New Yorker. Later, on December 20th, Biden’s lawyers revealed to the Department of Justice that there were documents found in his home garage. Although the exact number of documents is not yet known, estimates suggest that at least 20 documents were found, most of lower-level classifications.
As the Biden document scandal has prompted a Republican effort to equate Biden’s handling of classified documents with Trump’s, many have pointed to the differences in how the Department of Justice responded to both cases. The simple answer as to why this is the case is that Biden is cooperating with the DOJ investigation, while Trump did not. As reported by The New York Times, Trump “defied efforts to recover documents even after being subpoenaed, prompting a judge to issue a search warrant” at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida this summer.
While Biden and Pence responded similarly to the discovery of documents — by alerting the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) and turning over the papers — Trump’s lawyers refused to return the classified materials reported missing by the NARA after he left the White House. Trump’s lawyers refused to comply with a subpoena requesting the return of several boxes of sensitive documents ahead of the FBI’s execution of a search warrant in August, reported CNN.
Lawyers for former Vice President Pence reported that a small number of classified documents were found in his home north of Indianapolis. Like Biden, Pence maintains that he engaged early with NARA to return missing documents and is cooperating fully with the Justice Department.
While Trump faces legal challenges for obstruction in the battle to retrieve his documents, both Biden and Pence face much less of a threat as they are cooperating with the DOJ. Far fewer documents — primarily of lower-level classifications — were found in their possession, compared to roughly 60 “top secret” documents found at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate. Biden and Pence also turned in the materials “without intent to conceal,” unlike the former president. The situation in which the two’s classified documents were found, as well as their reactions and cooperation within their own investigations, show a striking contrast to the situation and behavior of Donald Trump.
A recent NBC poll found that an equal number of Americans — 67% — say they are as concerned about classified documents found at Biden’s residence as they are about those found at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home, despite notable differences in how the two responded to the discoveries.
As the 2024 presidential election approaches and Biden is expected to announce his run for re-election, Biden has faced criticism from members of his own party while Republicans are gearing up to make Biden’s document scandal a focus of campaign attacks. Biden should be “embarrassed by the situation,” Democratic Senator Dick Durbin told CNN, adding that the president had “lost the high ground on this notion of classified information being where it shouldn’t be.”
Already, it has been found that 81% of Americans believe that Biden’s concealment, intentional or not, was unethical, according to a recent CNN poll. The administration’s response to the initial discovery of documents has raised concerns about their transparency, and while hindering Democrats’ ability to use Trump’s own document scandal against him.
Some right wing news networks, such as Fox News, are already using this conflict to threaten Biden and NARA, ook a “vastly different approach than it took regarding former President Trump and his storage of sensitive records.”
Both Trump and Biden are the subjects of ongoing special counsel investigations into their mishandling of classified materials. It is unclear whether Attorney General Merrick Garland may appoint a special counsel to investigate Pence, a likely 2024 hopeful.