How serious a matter is it when federal government officials mishandle classified documents? How easy is it to make distinctions between the two highest-profile recent examples, involving former President Donald Trump and his successor, Joe Biden? Is it possible that both cases are overblown or over-dramatized for political gain? There is no simple answer to any of these questions – and there plenty of politically motivated theories swirling around both men right now. Ironically, of course, the American people will never get to judge for themselves if Biden or Trump – or both of them – put the nation at risk, because no documents found in their possession that allegedly contain highly sensitive information will ever be made available for us ordinary folks to read.
In both cases, we must rely on whatever information the Justice Department (DOJ) chooses to divulge and whatever the media reports about each case – assuming one is inclined to accept such reports as reliable.
A Tale of Two Classified Documents Scandals
A certain left-leaning Washington, DC, newspaper has been on the trail of both of these mishandled classified documents cases. Its coverage has ranged from horror and outrage over the Trump case to unconvincing attempts to minimize the seriousness in the still-unfolding Biden situation. Though, to be fair, this same publication also has alluded to the hypocrisy and double standards that sprang up on the left when it was revealed that Biden had retained classified documents in both his office at the Penn Biden Center and at his Delaware home:
“Biden’s team has questions to answer, both to [Special Counsel Robert] Hur’s team and to the public. So far, the president and his team have not been fully forthcoming. The classified documents were discovered before the midterm elections, but no one among Biden’s team said anything publicly at the time, even though Biden had used the investigation into Trump’s documents as a political talking point during the fall campaign, calling Trump’s possession of classified material ‘irresponsible.’”
Are All Secrets Equal?
So, what’s the deal with classified documents anyway? There are different levels of classification, depending, obviously, on the materials in question. The three main distinctions are – from least to most sensitive – confidential, secret, and top secret. At least 18 documents marked top secret were recovered by the FBI from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort. According to media reports, the materials found at Biden’s home also contained documents marked top secret. So, are both cases equal? The aforementioned newspaper – and certain other media outlets are running with the same narrative – says no, because Trump had a great many more classified documents than Biden. In the latter case, information is still trickling out, and the truth is that nobody knows how much classified material Biden had -- or has – in his possession. But quantity doesn’t really count for much; the information or transcribed communications contained within two pages could be far more damaging to national security than the combined contents of 20 other documents.
Also, the Washington paper contrasted Trump’s alleged refusal to hand over certain documents with the swift cooperation from Biden’s lawyers. They are the people who found classified material in his former Penn Biden Center office, his garage, and a room of his house. They notified the White House counsel immediately and handed the material over to the National Archives. That all sounds very innocuous, an unintentional oversight swiftly resolved. But was it really? The documents in question date back to Biden’s time as Barack Obama’s vice president. He left that office in January 2017. Just about six years later, his attorneys suddenly found classified documents he had been sitting on all this time. That’s not exactly a swift or efficient correction. Within a matter of months of leaving office, Trump was under assault for having taken documents with him.
The Questions Yet to Be Answered
Donald Trump (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
The pro-Trump partisan might even speculate that Trump’s big document “scandal” was aired out – including a much-reported FBI raid with camera crew in tow – because someone already knew or suspected that Biden, at some point, would have to answer for his own mishandling of secret materials. Then, of course, there is the other timing issue. As mentioned by the same paper, the White House was informed about the Biden documents shortly before the 2022 midterm elections but sat on that news until after polling day. By contrast, Trump’s document fumbles were used by Democrats to score political points during last year’s campaign season.
The US government – and probably most or all other national governments – has become quite obsessed with secrecy. We might wonder how many classified documents really need to be classified at all. There will always be information that, if obtained by the wrong people, could compromise national security, military operations, intelligence sources and methods, or international diplomacy. The idea that certain documents need to be marked as secret or top secret should not be cavalierly dismissed. However, could it not be the case that most of the materials removed to the offices or private residences of this former president and former vice president are not really that sensitive? Might not both of these “scandals” be mere distractions from other more important or more nefarious matters? Also, how many other former chief executives and VPs made off – intentionally or not – with classified documents? When will the authorities start asking questions of Kamala Harris, Barack Obama, George W. Bush, and Dick Cheney? Can we expect to see more FBI raids in the coming months? Probably not.
Legal implications aside – because a sitting president cannot be criminally charged, according to a long-standing DOJ opinion – the optics are getting worse by the day for the current White House occupant. Thankfully, for him and his media sympathizers, Biden can always fall back on the “But Trump … “ defense.
