Trump vs. Biden: A Tale of Two Document Scandals
President Joe Biden's lawyers recently reported to the National Archives that they had found a dozen Obama-era documents at a Washington, DC think tank, leading to a comparison with the massive cache of classified material retrieved during an FBI search of former president Donald Trump's home. The contrast between the two cases has left Trump more than a bit irate, with the twice-impeached ex-president lashing out at former George W Bush White House official and GOP strategist Karl Rove for pointing out the differences. Rove noted that while there were about 10 documents in Biden's case, there were hundreds in Trump's, and that Trump had engaged in an 18-month fight with the National Archives over the documents he had stashed at Mar-a-Lago.
Key Takeaways:
- The comparison between the two cases highlights the significant differences in the number of documents involved, with about 10 documents found by Biden's lawyers and hundreds retrieved from Trump's home.
- Trump's fight with the National Archives over the documents he had stashed at Mar-a-Lago lasted for 18 months, culminating in a police search to recover the documents.
- Rove pointed out that Trump had ordered the documents to be transferred from the White House to his Florida home, raising questions about how the documents at issue got to a locked closet at the Penn Biden Centre in Washington.
- Trump mistakenly argued that Biden "had no power to declassify" records as vice president, despite the fact that the vice president is considered an original classification authority with the power to classify and declassify information at will.
- Trump also falsely claimed that the Obama-Biden documents wouldn't have been covered under the Presidential Records Act, despite the fact that the vice president's office is part of the Executive Office of the President.
Statistics:
- About 10 documents were found by Biden's lawyers, compared with hundreds retrieved from Trump's home.
- Trump engaged in an 18-month fight with the National Archives over the documents he had stashed at Mar-a-Lago.
- The FBI search of Trump's home yielded a massive cache of classified material, with details still to be disclosed.
- The National Archives and Records Administration is still working to recover thousands of documents from Trump's home.
Sources:
- (CNN) - "Trump's Truth Social account"
- Fox News - Karl Rove's interview on October 24, 2022
- NY Times - "Trump's fight with National Archives over documents" (no specific date mentioned)
- CNN - "Trump mistakenly argues that Biden had no power to declassify documents"
- CBS News - "National Archives and Records Administration seeks Justice Department's help in retrieving documents from Trump's home"