{"id":1029528,"date":"2024-02-09T00:51:12","date_gmt":"2024-02-09T00:51:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/?p=1029528"},"modified":"2024-05-23T19:56:43","modified_gmt":"2024-05-23T19:56:43","slug":"key-differences-between-how-president-biden-and-donald-trump-handled-classified-documents","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/key-differences-between-how-president-biden-and-donald-trump-handled-classified-documents\/","title":{"rendered":"Key Differences Between How President Biden and Donald Trump Handled Classified Documents"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Take it from the Special Counsel\u2019s own report: President Biden and his team did the right thing by self-reporting the discovery of classified documents, immediately returning the documents to the government, and fully cooperating with the investigation \u2013 including unprecedented voluntary searches of his homes and a two-day interview with the Special Counsel. None of this can be said about Donald Trump \u2013 who is accused of obstructing the investigation into his handling of classified documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are the facts:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After a 15-month investigation, Special Counsel Hur found no case to prosecute the president, while Trump has been indicted on 40 felony counts.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Donald Trump has been indicted on 40 felony counts \u2013 including on obstruction of justice<\/a> and willful retention of national defense information<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After interviewing nearly 150 witnesses, reviewing 7 million documents, and spending more than $3.5 million taxpayer dollars \u2013 Special Counsel Hur concluded his investigation with no prosecution or indictments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Take it from the Special Counsel\u2019s report \u2013 President Biden\u2019s conduct is remarkably different from Trump\u2019s active obstruction.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The report notes that the Trump indictment reveals \u201cserious aggravating facts,\u201d not present here. (page 11)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMost notably, after being given multiple chances to return classified documents and avoid prosecution, Mr. Trump allegedly did the opposite. According to the indictment, he not only refused to return the documents for many months, but he also obstructed justice by enlisting others to destroy evidence and then to lie about it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn contrast, Mr. Biden turned in classified documents to the National Archives and the Department of Justice, consented to the search of multiple locations including his homes, sat for a voluntary interview, and in other ways cooperated with the investigation.\u201d (page 11)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

President Biden voluntarily cooperated with the Special Counsel from the very beginning and throughout the investigation \u2013 which cannot be said for Trump.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

President Biden\u2019s team self-reported the discovery of classified documents as soon as they were found, while the National Archives had to repeatedly ask Trump for documents for six months<\/a> before Trump returned any.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

President Biden directed his team to fully cooperate, while Donald Trump suggested that his attorney \u201cfalsely represent<\/a>\u201d that he did not have documents requested by the government, according to the Department of Justice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

President Biden voluntarily gave the Department of Justice access to his Wilmington and Rehoboth homes for unprecedented searches of a sitting President\u2019s homes \u2013 and helped facilitate the Department of Justice\u2019s searches at the Penn Biden Center, the University of Delaware, and a previous rental home \u2013 while the Department of Justice had to obtain a search warrant<\/a> in order to gain access to and search Mar-a-Lago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While President Biden fully cooperated with the investigation, Trump has allegedly attempted to destroy documents.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

President Biden directed his team to immediately return all classified documents that were found, while Donald Trump suggested that his attorney \u201chide or destroy documents<\/a>\u201d the government had subpoenaed, according to the Department of Justice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

President Biden made no attempt to destroy evidence, while Donald Trump attempted to \u201cdelete security camera footage<\/a>\u201d at Mar-a-Lago to \u201cconceal information<\/a>,\u201d according to the Department of Justice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While President Biden has always taken classified information seriously, Donald Trump has shared classified documents with several others.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

President Biden never shared marked classified documents with others. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Donald Trump shared highly sensitive marked classified documents<\/a> with several others at his New Jersey country club.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Take it from the Special Counsel\u2019s own report: President Biden and his team did the right thing by self-reporting the discovery of classified documents, immediately returning the documents to the government, and fully cooperating with the investigation \u2013 including unprecedented voluntary searches of his homes and a two-day interview with the Special Counsel. None of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":263,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1029528","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nKey Differences Between How President Biden and Donald Trump Handled Classified Documents - Democrats<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/key-differences-between-how-president-biden-and-donald-trump-handled-classified-documents\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Democrats\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-02-09T00:51:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-05-23T19:56:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/War-Room-Master-Image.png?w=1024\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Claire DePree\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Claire DePree\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/key-differences-between-how-president-biden-and-donald-trump-handled-classified-documents\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/key-differences-between-how-president-biden-and-donald-trump-handled-classified-documents\/\",\"name\":\"Key Differences Between How President Biden and Donald Trump Handled Classified Documents - 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