I really think we're comparing apples and oranges here.
The only real comparison is that they both violated the law by being in possession of classified material they were not supposed to have. No debate there, but that's where the equivalency ends.
Violating the law is one thing; being held criminally responsible for doing so is a legal matter, and a lot of it hinges on things like intent, magnitude, cooperation with authorities, etc.
In Biden's case, there were about 2 dozen documents found, some with classified markings. It's unclear (to me, at least) if any were marked "Top Secret". Biden's attorneys immediately contacted the National Archives and turned the documents over to them the next day.
In Trump's case, there were over 300 documents found, with 60 or so marked "Top Secret". Trump refused to turn them over. It took over a year of negotiations and an ignored subpoena before NARA lost patience and the feds got a court to approve a search warrant for Mar A Lago; during that search the documents were found and seized. This was followed by months of Trump and his attorneys trying to obstruct the investigation, with Trump claiming that the documents were his property.
Anyone who looks at the two situations with an open mind can see that they are NOT equivalent at all - Biden voluntarily notified NARA and immediately turned over the documents as soon as they were found, while Trump purposely packed up, removed, and hid the documents, then refused to turn them over. Only an extreme partisan would insist that these two incidents were the same, and require the same level of government scrutiny and potential punishment.
Today, AG Garland appointed a Special Counsel to investigate what happened with the Biden documents; in a brilliant political move he chose a former Trump-appointed US Attorney,m so the Republicans can't complain that it's a Democratic plot (although they probably will anyway).
While I agree that both Biden and Trump violated the same laws and deserve to be investigated for doing so, it seems to me that the Biden incident will turn out to be a nothing-burger because of his willingness to immediately cooperate with NARA (before NARA even realized that he had the documents). Politically, I'm sure that will not sit well with the Trump cultists in Congress. |
