{"id":2172596,"date":"2024-02-09T16:53:02","date_gmt":"2024-02-09T21:53:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/biden-classified-documents-report-revives-comparisons-to-trump-case\/"},"modified":"2024-02-09T16:56:25","modified_gmt":"2024-02-09T21:56:25","slug":"biden-classified-documents-report-revives-comparisons-to-trump-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/biden-classified-documents-report-revives-comparisons-to-trump-case\/","title":{"rendered":"Biden&#8217;s classified documents report sparks Trump case comparisons"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">16<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fbiden-classified-documents-report-revives-comparisons-to-trump-case%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2172596&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><h2>The Department of Justice\u2019s announcement this week that President Joe Biden would\u200d face no charges \u200cfor mishandling classified \u200ddocuments drew renewed attention to \u2062the case against former President Donald Trump related to the same issue.<\/h2>\n<blockquote>\n<p>The Department of Justice\u2019s\u200d announcement this week that President Joe Biden would face no charges for mishandling classified documents drew renewed attention to the case against former President Donald Trump related to the same issue.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h3>Republicans swiftly criticized the \u200cDOJ for choosing to prosecute Trump\u200b but not Biden, accusing the department of having double standards.<\/h3>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Republicans swiftly criticized the DOJ for choosing to prosecute Trump but not Biden, accusing the department of having double standards.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Special counsel Robert Hur, perhaps in anticipation of this, addressed what he viewed as \u201cmaterial\u200d distinctions\u201d between the two cases\u2063 as part of\u2062 a lengthy report that detailed his decision not\u2064 to charge anyone in Biden\u2019s case.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUnlike the evidence involving Mr.\u2062 Biden, the allegations set forth in the indictment of Mr. Trump, if\u2064 proven, would clearly establish not only Mr. Trump\u2019s willfulness but also serious aggravating facts,\u201d Hur wrote.<\/p>\n<p>Hur said that\u2063 while he would not speak to the merits of Trump\u2019s case, those facts\u2062 included Trump\u2019s\u2062 alleged repeated refusal to return all of his documents despite knowing he had them, as well as his\u200c alleged lies to federal\u2062 investigators and\u2064 attempt to conceal evidence.<\/p>\n<p>Hur said \u200dBiden was, by contrast, a cooperative subject. He noted the president returned the classified documents during the \u2062investigation whenever his attorneys encountered them, consented to FBI searches \u200cfor them, and participated in a\u2064 voluntary interview.<\/p>\n<p>Hur nevertheless intensely criticized Biden, \u200dsaying his carelessness with classified material risked national security.<\/p>\n<p>The special counsel also included in his report a stunning indictment of Biden\u2019s mental fitness, saying that a jury might reasonably believe Biden made an innocent mistake\u2062 by retaining documents because his memory was sorely lacking. He said Biden could not remember \u200cwhen major events occurred, including his \u2064son\u2019s death and when he left the vice presidency.<\/p>\n<p>Yet Hur\u2019s harsh\u2064 assessments did not stop Republicans from raising two \u200dmajor grievances: The DOJ gave Biden special treatment, allowing him to skirt charges, and the FBI was soft \u2063on him when retrieving documents.<\/p>\n<h3>Declining to \u2064charge Biden<\/h3>\n<p>The DOJ last year, \u200din a\u2062 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/donald-trump-indicted-former-president-asks-what-happened-to-crooked-joe-bidens-case\/\" title=\"Donald Trump indicted; ex-president questions fate of 'crooked' Joe Biden's case.\">separate special counsel investigation<\/a>, brought 32 counts of \u2063willful retention\u200b of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/joe-biden-rips-trump-for-doing-the-same-thing-the-obama-administration-did\/\" title=\"Joe Biden Rips Trump For Doing The Same Thing The Obama Administration Did\">national defense information<\/a>, a violation of the Espionage Act, against Trump, as well as eight other felonies, including conspiring to obstruct justice,\u200c making\u200c false statements, and scheming\u2063 to conceal objects in a federal investigation.<\/p>\n<p>Hur \u2064found Biden \u201cwillfully\u201d retained classified documents that related to \u200d\u201cseminal moments\u201d from his vice presidency,\u2064 such as decisions he made about U.S. policy on Afghanistan. He also said Biden disclosed classified material \u2064to the\u200b ghostwriter of his memoir.<\/p>\n<p>Nevertheless, Hur said there were too many factors in Biden\u2019s case that could cause reasonable doubt, a threshold prosecutors must examine before \u200bbringing charges. Biden\u2019s \u201climited precision and recall\u201d was one consideration, as was the fact that Biden was, as president, allowed to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wray-hearing-fbi-director-defends-mar-a-lago-raid-ballrooms-bathrooms-and-bedrooms-not-scifs\/\" title=\"FBI director defends Mar-a-Lago raid: No SCIFs in ballrooms, bathrooms, or bedrooms.\">store classified information<\/a> \u200dat his \u2063home. Hur had no evidence Biden willfully retained the information at his home during the time that he was a\u2062 private citizen, aside from \u200ba recording of a \u2063conversation he had with his ghostwriter\u2062 in 2017.<\/p>\n<p>Jonathan Turley, a law professor \u2062at George Washington University, criticized Hur\u2019s report for containing what he said were \u201cinherent contradictions\u201d and observed how Hur\u2019s approach differed\u2063 from that of Jack Smith, the \u2063special counsel in Trump\u2019s case.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere is an obvious difference in the apparent default position of two special counsels. Smith seemed to go after Trump with an abandon where Hur seemed to struggle to abandon any basis for charging Biden,\u201d Turley \u200csaid.<\/p>\n<p>Turley said Hur\u2019s report\u200c also \u201craises the question of whether Biden \u200dwould have been \u2063prosecuted if he was less \u2063cognitively challenged.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Another\u200d legal scholar, national defense \u200cattorney\u2063 Bradley Moss, said \u200bone key difference missing from Biden\u2019s case was an obstruction factor.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWith almost zero exceptions, the government simply does not prosecute \u2062people for willful retention in and\u200d of itself,\u201d Moss said. \u201cEvery time they have gone forward with prosecuting in those cases, they did it because there was evidence of a separate obstructive act.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3>Consensual FBI searches at Biden\u2019s residence<\/h3>\n<p>The FBI took a more heavy-handed approach with Trump than with Biden during its retrieval of documents \u2014 an\u2062 observation some Trump supporters were quick to make.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPresidents Trump\u2019s home was raided and they won\u2019t even prosecute Biden. This is a selective political prosecution!\u201d staunch Trump\u2062 ally \u200bRep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) wrote on X.<\/p>\n<p>Another Trump supporter, Sen. \u200bMarsha Blackburn (R-TN), was incredulous that Biden was not charged.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMeanwhile, President Trump \u2014 Biden\u2019s top political opponent \u2014 had his private residence raided by the FBI\u2063 in a very public manner and is facing\u2064 criminal prosecution by the same DOJ that\u2062 has time and time again given \u2063special treatment to\u2064 the \u200dBiden family,\u201d Blackburn said.<\/p>\n<p>The \u2063FBI opened its investigation into Trump in March 2022 and subpoenaed him\u2062 soon thereafter for \u2064all of his classified documents. The \u2064subpoena came after the National Archives and Records Administration and Trump \u2064had engaged in a year of back-and-forth about the documents and after NARA\u200c made \u201cmonths of demands\u201d to Trump for missing records, according to\u200c Smith.<\/p>\n<p>Smith alleged that after receiving the subpoena, Trump lied to the FBI by representing to the bureau\u2063 that he had returned all the requested documents and that Trump conspired to \u2064move boxes with classified material to \u200cconceal them \u2062from the FBI, as well as attempted to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trump-attacks-biden-over-bribery-allegations-in-first-ad-since-new-charges\/\" title=\"Trump's latest ad targets Biden for bribery allegations.\">delete security footage<\/a> to hide evidence.<\/p>\n<p>In August 2022, the FBI executed a controversial search warrant at his Mar-a-Lago \u2062home in Florida. The top FBI agent at the\u2063 Washington Field \u2062Office at the time, Steven D\u2019Antuono,\u200b told Congress last year that\u2064 there were internal disputes over whether to alert Trump in \u200cadvance of\u2063 the search. But the fear in Trump\u2019s case of documents \u2064\u201cbeing lost, destroyed, [or] going someplace else\u201d superseded the \u201creputational risk\u201d of an unprecedented search, D\u2019Antuono said.<\/p>\n<p>In \u2062Biden\u2019s case, the FBI coordinated with the president\u2019s attorneys to carry out multiple searches. The DOJ first began investigating Biden\u2019s documents on\u2064 Nov. 9, 2022, roughly a week\u2062 after being notified of their existence.<\/p>\n<p>The bureau carried out \u2062what Hur described as \u201cconsensual\u201d searches, \u2064noting the FBI searched the Penn Biden\u2062 Center, his \u2064Wilmington, Delaware, home at least twice, and \u200dthe Morris Library of the University of Delaware. Hur indicated that the proactive, rather than reactive, nature of \u200bthe communication the FBI received \u2062from Biden\u2019s attorneys paved the way for coordinated searches.<\/p>\n<p>Moss said the FBI\u2019s more stern handling of Trump was entirely \u200bwarranted.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ll quote none\u200c other than [former Attorney General] Bill Barr. \u200bThis is what happens when you mess around with the FBI and you play games,\u201d Moss \u200csaid.<\/p>\n<p>He speculated that the FBI would never have even resorted to a subpoena, which is far\u2064 less invasive than a property search, if Trump had been immediately compliant with NARA.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf Trump simply called and said, \u2018Please come here. Take anything and everything. I don\u2019t want this stuff \u2062here\u2019 \u2014 he didn\u2019t do that. He played games with them\u2062 for months,\u201d Moss said, noting that Trump is\u2064 also accused of instructing his deputies to hide from federal investigators that his compliance with the subpoena had been incomplete.<\/p>\n<p>Trump has pleaded not guilty\u2063 to all of the charges in the case against him and\u2064 is now awaiting trial. His lawyers have indicated \u200cthat \u200cahead of a trial, he will attempt to have \u2062his case dismissed.<\/p>\n<p> <\/p>\n<h2> Why do Trump&#8217;s allies argue that\u200b the \u200dFBI&#8217;s approach\u200c with Biden\u2062 was different from\u2062 their treatment of \u200cTrump?<\/h2>\n<p><span>  Rida, which was widely criticized as a\u200c politically motivated attack on Trump. The \u2064raid resulted in the seizure \u2063of multiple boxes of \u200cdocuments and electronic devices.<\/p>\n<p>Trump\u2019s allies \u2064argue \u2064that the FBI\u2019s \u2063approach with \u200cBiden stands in stark\u2062 contrast to\u2064 their treatment of Trump. Biden\u2019s residence was subjected to \u200bconsensual searches, with \u2062his attorneys cooperating fully with \u200bthe FBI. No warrants were issued,\u2064 and there was no public spectacle surrounding the retrieval\u200c of documents.<\/p>\n<p>Democrats argue that the differences in approach \u200cwere justified, given the unique circumstances of \u200ceach case.\u2064 They point to the fact \u2063that Trump\u2019s alleged actions involved potential obstruction \u2062of justice, conspiracy, and other serious crimes. They argue\u2062 that Biden\u2019s case, while involving\u200c mishandling of classified information, lacked the \u2062same level \u2063of criminal intent and obstructive behavior.<\/p>\n<p>In response to the criticisms from\u2064 Republicans, Hur defended his decision not\u200b to charge Biden, \u2064stating that evidence of willful intent and aggravating factors were\u2064 lacking\u2064 in Biden\u2019s case. \u200bHe \u200cemphasized that\u2063 the decision was based on the facts and evidence\u200d presented, and not influenced by political \u200bconsiderations.<\/p>\n<p>As the DOJ\u2019s announcement\u2064 regarding Biden reignites public interest in the issue\u2063 of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/breaking-trump-receives-horrifying-news-from-special-counsel-jack-smith-regarding-jan-6-grand-jury\/\" title=\"Breaking: Trump Shocked by Disturbing Update from Special Counsel on Jan. 6 Grand Jury\">mishandling classified\u200b documents<\/a>,\u2063 it also raises \u200dquestions of fairness and equality under \u2062the law. Republicans\u2064 argue that the DOJ\u2019s decision to prosecute Trump but\u2063 not Biden indicates a double \u2062standard and selective prosecution based on political motives.<\/p>\n<p>While it is clear \u2063that the\u2062 cases against Trump and Biden share some similarities, there are \u2064also important differences that need to be taken into account. \u200bThe DOJ\u2019s extensive investigation and analysis of both cases \u2064provide \u2064valuable \u2063insights into their decision-making process.<\/p>\n<p>Ultimately, the decision not to charge President Biden may\u2063 be seen by some \u2062as a missed opportunity to hold him\u2063 accountable for his actions. However, the DOJ\u2019s rationale \u200cbehind that decision, as outlined\u200d in the report by Special\u200b Counsel Hur, provides a detailed explanation of the factors considered in reaching that conclusion.<\/p>\n<p>As the \u200cpublic continues \u200cto follow developments in these cases, it is \u2064crucial to \u2064prioritize transparency, accountability, and the fair application of the law.\u2062 The Department of\u2064 Justice plays a vital role in upholding these principles, and it is \u2062essential that the American \u2064people have confidence in \u200bits decisions and actions, regardless of \u2064political affiliations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Department of Justice&#8217;s recent announcement cleared President Biden of mishandling classified documents, reigniting focus on the case against ex-President Trump. Republicans swiftly accused the DOJ of double standards, criticizing their decision to prosecute Trump while sparing Biden<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[538],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2172596","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-washington-examiner"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2172596","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/49"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2172596"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2172596\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2172596"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2172596"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2172596"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}