US Attorney General Merrick Garland has appointed a special prosecutor after it was announced on Thursday that more confidential documents had been found in Joe Biden’s house. The affair brings the third violence into the devil’s kitchen.
American President Joe Biden is even more on the defensive.
Just two days after the first bad news, more unpleasant news for President Joe Biden leaked to the press on Wednesday. As informed circles initially told the NBC television channel, Biden’s lawyers found confidential documents from his time as Vice President at at least one other location. It was announced on Monday that the US President’s legal advisors found around ten secret files when clearing an office on November 2 that Biden had used until he moved into the White House.
Among the files from November 2 are said to be those marked “top secret”. They were stored in an office at the Penn Biden Center think tank, which the current president founded in 2018. As a result of the discovery, Biden’s lawyers have been combing other premises for confidential documents from earlier times over the past few months and weeks. And obviously they found what they were looking for: As Biden’s lawyer Richard Sauber announced on Thursday, further secret files were found in the President’s house in Wilmington. It was about “a small number” of documents from the Obama presidency that were stowed in the garage and an adjacent storage room between “personal and political papers”.
Justice Minister responds to “extraordinary circumstances”
After the find in November, Attorney General Merrick Garland commissioned Chicago prosecutor John Lausch, who was originally nominated by Donald Trump, to review the documents. According to Garland Lausch was informed by Biden’s lawyer on December 20 about the newly discovered files in the garage. On January 5, Lausch recommended that the Minister of Justice appoint a special investigator to the case. On Thursday afternoon, Garland took the step: In an effort to gain political independence, he made Robert Hur a special counsel. Hur was appointed US Attorney in Maryland by Trump in 2018. Garland explained that his action was necessary given the “extraordinary circumstances”.
Attorney General Merrick Garland follows John Lausch’s (left) recommendation and appoints a special prosecutor.
Biden himself said Monday he was been surprised that official government documents were in his office. He didn’t know anything about their content. Among other things, the special counsel will have to investigate how such secret documents got into Biden’s private office and then fell into oblivion.
Basically, there are clear legal regulations for dealing with «classified documents». They must be stored in a secure facility – a so-called “secure information facility” – to which only persons who have passed a security check have access. Before they are allowed to read secret information, the authorized persons must explain in writing, not to pass on any sensitive information to unauthorized persons. When their access ends, they must sign that they have not taken any confidential documents with them. However, this tedious process does not apply to presidents. Because the Commander-in-Chief has the power to declassify secret documents because of his office, former CIA official David Priess explained to the in August “Washington Post”.
After the FBI seized over a hundred confidential documents from Donald Trump’s private estate last August, the former president claimed he had declassified those files. So far, however, there is no evidence that this actually happened. The Republicans are now pointing out that Biden, as Vice President, was unable to declassify any secret files and therefore stored them illegally. What freedoms the Vice President enjoys in dealing with confidential documents, seems legally controversial. However, Biden has not yet claimed to have lifted the confidentiality of the documents.
Biden’s misstep contains political explosives
However, it seems clear that the state archives do not have an exact overview of who exactly has which documents. «This is a serious problem. We don’t oversee classified information the way we should,” Richard Painter, a former senior White House ethics attorney, said radio station NPR on Wednesday. As serious as the sloppy handling of secret documents is, it almost never has criminal consequences. Highly classified information was also found on former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s private e-mail server. The FBI described the behavior as «extremely carefree»but ultimately no charges were filed.
A well-known case that has led to prosecution is that of former General and CIA Director David Petraeus. He had told his biographer, with whom he had an extramarital affair, provide confidential information. After a confession, he became one in 2015 two-year suspended sentence and a fine fined over $100,000. Another case is that of Bill Clinton’s former national security adviser, Sandy Berger. He had confidential documents from the National Archives secretly stolen. He also confessed to his crime and had to pay $10,000 for it.
So far, too little is known about the documents handed out by Biden for a final verdict to be made. However, the case does not yet appear to be comparable to the ongoing investigations against Trump. As things stand at present, Biden must at least be accused of violating his duty of care. However, he handed over the documents to the National Archives without being asked. The FBI still found boxes full of official documents in Trump’s mansion after his lawyers assured that they had returned everything. That’s why investigators are accusing Trump of obstructing justice.
Despite the differences, Biden’s own misstep has left his Justice Department in the dark. If Trump is indicted, investigators will find it even more difficult to explain the legal subtleties of justifying the different treatment of the two presidents, especially to Republican voters.