Take it from the Special Counsel’s 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 – 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 – who is accused of obstructing the investigation into his handling of classified documents.
Here are the facts:
After a 15-month investigation, Special Counsel Hur found no case to prosecute the president, while Trump has been indicted on 40 felony counts.
Donald Trump has been indicted on 40 felony counts – including on obstruction of justice and willful retention of national defense information.
After interviewing nearly 150 witnesses, reviewing 7 million documents, and spending more than $3.5 million taxpayer dollars – Special Counsel Hur concluded his investigation with no prosecution or indictments.
Take it from the Special Counsel’s report – President Biden’s conduct is remarkably different from Trump’s active obstruction.
The report notes that the Trump indictment reveals “serious aggravating facts,” not present here. (page 11)
“Most 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.
“In 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.” (page 11)
President Biden voluntarily cooperated with the Special Counsel from the very beginning and throughout the investigation – which cannot be said for Trump.
President Biden’s 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 before Trump returned any.
President Biden directed his team to fully cooperate, while Donald Trump suggested that his attorney “falsely represent” that he did not have documents requested by the government, according to the Department of Justice.
President Biden voluntarily gave the Department of Justice access to his Wilmington and Rehoboth homes for unprecedented searches of a sitting President’s homes – and helped facilitate the Department of Justice’s searches at the Penn Biden Center, the University of Delaware, and a previous rental home – while the Department of Justice had to obtain a search warrant in order to gain access to and search Mar-a-Lago.
While President Biden fully cooperated with the investigation, Trump has allegedly attempted to destroy documents.
President Biden directed his team to immediately return all classified documents that were found, while Donald Trump suggested that his attorney “hide or destroy documents” the government had subpoenaed, according to the Department of Justice.
President Biden made no attempt to destroy evidence, while Donald Trump attempted to “delete security camera footage” at Mar-a-Lago to “conceal information,” according to the Department of Justice.
While President Biden has always taken classified information seriously, Donald Trump has shared classified documents with several others.
President Biden never shared marked classified documents with others.
Donald Trump shared highly sensitive marked classified documents with several others at his New Jersey country club.
The post Key Differences Between How President Biden and Donald Trump Handled Classified Documents appeared first on Democrats.