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A Side-by-Side Look at the Trump, Biden Classified Documents

The revelation that potentially classified materials were discovered at think tank offices formerly used by President Joe Biden has prompted questions on how the circumstance compares to the seizure last year of hundreds of documents marked as classified from Mar-a-Lago, the Florida residence of former President Donald Trump.

A side-by-side look at the similarities and differences between the two situations:

How many classified documents are we talking about?

Biden: “A small number of documents with classified markings” were discovered on Nov. 2, 2022, in a locked closet at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement, a think tank in Washington, as Biden’s personal attorneys were clearing out the offices, according to Richard Sauber, special counsel to the president.

Biden kept an office at the Penn Center after he left the vice presidency in 2017 until shortly before he launched his 2020 presidential campaign. It was affiliated with the University of Pennsylvania and continued to operate independently of the Biden administration.

Trump: Roughly 300 documents with classification markings — including some at the top-secret level — have been recovered from Trump since he left office in January 2021.

In January 2022, the National Archives and Records Administration retrieved 15 boxes of documents, telling Justice Department officials they contained “a lot” of classified material. In August, FBI agents took about 33 boxes and containers of 11,000 documents from Mar-a-Lago, including roughly 100 with classification markings found in a storage room and an office.

How quickly were the classified documents turned over?

Biden: His personal attorneys immediately alerted the White House counsel’s office, who notified NARA, which took custody of the documents the next day, Sauber said.

“Since that discovery, the president’s personal attorneys have cooperated with the Archives and the Department of Justice in a process to ensure that any Obama-Biden Administration records are appropriately in the possession of the Archives,” Sauber said.

Trump: A Trump representative told NARA in December 2021 that presidential records had been found at Mar-a-Lago, nearly a year after Trump left office. Fifteen boxes of records containing some classified materials were transferred from Mar-Lago to NARA in January.

A few months later, investigators from the Justice Department and FBI visited Mar-a-Lago to get more information about classified materials taken to Florida. Federal officials also served a subpoena for some documents believed to be at the estate.

In August 2022, FBI agents conducting a search retrieved 33 boxes from Mar-a-Lago. The search came after lawyers for Trump provided a sworn certification that all government records had been returned.

Could either president face charges related to the discovery of the documents?

Biden: Despite the discovery of classified materials in a Biden office, there is no indication Biden himself was aware of the existence of the records before they were turned over.

The administration has also said that the records were turned over the same day they were discovered, without any intent to conceal. That’s important because the Justice Department historically looks for willfulness, or an intent to mishandle government secrets, in deciding whether to bring criminal charges.

But even if the Justice Department were to find the case prosecutable on the evidence, the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel has concluded that a president is immune from prosecution during his time in office. Former special counsel Robert Mueller cited that guidance in deciding not to reach a conclusion on whether Trump should face charges as part of his investigation into coordination between the 2016 Trump campaign and Russia.

Attorney General Merrick Garland asked U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois John Lausch — one of the few U.S. attorneys to be held over from Trump’s administration — to review the matter after the Archives referred the issue to the department, according to a person familiar with the matter but not authorized to discuss it publicly.

Trump: The former president possibly faces exposure for obstruction over the protracted battle to retrieve the documents themselves. And, since he’s no longer in office, he wouldn’t be afforded protections from possible prosecution that would apply to a sitting president.

In November, Garland appointed Jack Smith, a veteran war crimes prosecutor with a background in public corruption inquiries, to lead investigations into Trump’s retention of classified documents, as well as key aspects of a separate probe involving the January 6, 2021, insurrection and efforts to undo the 2020 election.

What did the presidents have to say about the discovery of the documents?

Biden: Answering questions from journalists at the North American Leaders Summit in Mexico on Tuesday, Biden said he was “surprised to learn” that the documents had been found at his think tank. He said he didn’t know what was in the material but takes classified documents “very seriously.”

He said his team acted appropriately by quickly turning the documents over.

“They did what they should have done,” Biden said. “They immediately called the Archives.”

In September, speaking of the situation with Trump, Biden told CBS’ “60 Minutes” that the discovery of top-secret documents at Mar-a-Lago raised concerns that sensitive data was compromised and called it “irresponsible.”

Trump: Trump has claimed at times that he declassified the documents that he took with him — though he has provided no evidence of that. He said in a Fox News interview in September that a president can declassify material “even by thinking about it.”

The former president has called the Mar-a-Lago search an “unannounced raid” that was “not necessary or appropriate” and represented “dark times for our Nation.”

Of Biden, Trump weighed in Monday on his social media site, asking, “When is the FBI going to raid the many homes of Joe Biden, perhaps even the White House?”

What are the political implications of the discovery of the documents?

Biden: While unlikely to affect the Justice Department’s decision-making with regard to charging Trump in his own case, Biden’s document disclosure could intensify skepticism among Republicans and others who are already critical that politics is the basis for probes of the former president.

There are also possible ramifications in a new, GOP-controlled Congress where Republicans are promising to launch widespread investigations of Biden’s administration.

Rep. Jim Jordan, chair of the powerful House Judiciary Committee, said Monday that the American public deserved to know earlier about the revelation of Biden’s classified documents. The Ohio Republican is among House Republicans pushing for the creation of a “select subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal government” within the Judiciary Committee.

Rep. Mike Turner, the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, has requested that the U.S. intelligence community conduct a “damage assessment” of the documents found at the Penn Center.

Trump: In its immediate aftermath, Trump and his supporters seized on the Mar-a-Lago search as a partisan attack from Democrats who had long been desirous of removing him from office.

During his 2024 campaign launch in November, at the same club agents had searched months earlier, Trump referenced the probes against him, casting himself as “a victim” of wayward prosecutors and the “festering, rot and corruption of Washington.”
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Republicans Launch Inquiries Into Classified Documents Found at Pro-Biden Think Tank 

President Joe Biden said he was “surprised” to learn his lawyers found government records in his former office at a Washington think tank and said he does not know what information is contained in the classified documents.

“My lawyers have not suggested I asked what documents they were. I’ve turned over the boxes — they’ve turned over the boxes to the [National] Archives, and we’re cooperating fully with the review, which I hope will be finished soon and will be more detail at that time,” Biden said at a press conference in Mexico City with Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau following their meeting.

On Monday, Biden’s personal lawyers disclosed that in November, a batch of documents from the time Biden was vice president, some of them classified, were found at the offices of the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement, an institute named after Biden and affiliated with the University of Pennsylvania that the White House said Biden used at times between 2017 to 2020.

Republican lawmakers have launched inquiries into the matter.

On Tuesday, incoming House Intelligence chair Mike Turner sent a letter to Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines requesting an “immediate review and damage assessment.”

Turner said the discovery would put Biden in potential violation of laws protecting national security, including the Espionage Act and Presidential Records Act, two laws that the Justice Department cited as the basis of their search of former President Donald Trump’s home in Mar-a-Lago, Florida, last year. Trump had for months refused the National Archives’ request to hand over classified documents suspected to be in his possession, until a search conducted by FBI agents in August found hundreds of documents, dozens of them top secret.

“When is the FBI going to raid the many homes of Joe Biden, perhaps even the White House? These documents were definitely not declassified,” Trump asked via the Truth Social platform Monday evening.

Richard Sauber, special counsel to the president, said that following the discovery of the material they immediately notified the National Archives, the agency in charge of handling such presidential documents.

“The White House is cooperating with the National Archives and the Department of Justice regarding the discovery of what appear to be Obama-Biden Administration records, including a small number of documents with classified markings,” Sauber said in a statement.

Sauber said the documents were discovered when the attorneys were packing files “housed in a locked closet” to prepare to vacate office space and that the Archives took possession of the materials the following morning. He said Biden attorneys are working to ensure that “any Obama-Biden Administration records are appropriately in the possession of the Archives.”

Not uncommon

Given its nature, any mishandling of classified material raises serious concerns, but such incidents are not uncommon and routinely handled through administrative proceedings, said Mark Zaid, an attorney focusing on national security law.

“A thorough factual investigation will be in everyone’s interests and presumably that will help identify whether any individual(s) are culpable,” Zaid told VOA in an email. “At this point, there does not seem to be any evidence that President Biden had any knowledge or involvement with the records in question, but we need to wait to learn more.”

Attorney General Merrick Garland has appointed John Lausch, a Trump-appointed U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, to investigate the matter. But even with the investigation, the White House is now in the uncomfortable position of having to explain why Biden may be committing the same transgression he had criticized Trump for.

Referring to the Mar-a-Lago documents, Biden questioned how “anyone could be that irresponsible” during a September interview on CBS News’ “60 Minutes,” and said he follows strict protocols governing sensitive material.

Republicans were quick to point out what they see as a double standard.

“If then-Vice President Biden took classified documents with him and held them for years and criticized former President Trump during that same time that he had those classified documents … I wonder why the press isn’t asking the same questions of him as vice president taking classified documents that they were asking President Trump,” House Majority Leader Steve Scalise said to reporters on Tuesday.

David A. Sklansky, former federal prosecutor and a professor of criminal law at Stanford University, said Biden’s case “isn’t remotely comparable” to Trump’s.

“What made the situation at Mar-a-Lago so serious wasn’t that classified documents were found there,” Sklansky told VOA. “It was the stonewalling and deception about those documents, and the repeated obstruction of the government’s efforts to recover the documents. There is no evidence of any of that here.”

Democratic lawmaker Pete Aguilar called Republicans’ move to investigate the president “hypocrisy at its finest,” saying that Republicans did not consider investigating the hundreds of documents found in Trump’s home to be a priority at the time.

“What President Biden did was disclose this to the Archives, let law enforcement know,” he said. “That is exactly the way that you should handle this.”

The White House has not confirmed whether the classified documents found at the Biden Penn Center include U.S. intelligence memos and briefing materials that covered topics including Ukraine, Iran and the United Kingdom, as reported by CNN.

The Department of Justice and the FBI declined VOA’s request to comment, while Lausch’s office and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence have not responded to VOA’s queries.

Katherine Gypson and Masood Farivar contributed to this report.
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House GOP Kicks Off Majority With Vote to Slash IRS Funding

House Republicans began their tenure in the majority Monday by passing a bill that would rescind nearly $71 billion that Congress had provided the IRS, fulfilling a campaign promise even though the legislation is unlikely to advance further.

Democrats had beefed up the IRS over the next decade to help offset the cost of top health and environmental priorities they passed last year and to replenish an agency struggling to provide basic services to taxpayers and ensure fairness in tax compliance.

The money is on top of what Congress provides the IRS annually through the appropriations process and immediately became a magnet for GOP campaign ads in the fall, claiming that the boost would lead to an army of IRS agents harassing hard-working Americans.

The bill to rescind the money passed the House on a party-line vote of 221-210. The Democratic-controlled Senate has vowed to ignore it.

Shortly before the vote, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office projected that rescinding the extra IRS funding would increase deficits over the coming decade by more than $114 billion. That created an awkward moment for Republicans, who have been saying that addressing deficits would be one of their top concerns in the majority.

Still, the CBO’s projection didn’t appear to dampen Republican support. Rep. Jeff Duncan, R-S.C., said the extra IRS funding Democrats provided last year was for one purpose.

“To go after small businesses, hard-working Americans to try to raise money for reckless spending, reckless spending that has caused $31 trillion in debt in this nation,” Duncan said.

Duncan and other GOP lawmakers routinely say the extra funding will be used to hire 87,000 new agents to target Americans, but that’s misleading. The number is based on a Treasury Department plan saying that many IRS employees would be hired over the next decade if it got the money. But those employees will not all be hired at the same time, they will not all be auditors and many will be replacing some 50,000 employees who are expected to quit or retire in coming years.

“This debate about IRS lends itself to be the most dishonest, demagogic rhetoric that I have seen in the Congress at any point in time,” said Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md.

Charles Rettig, the former commissioner of the IRS, said in a final message to the agency in November that the additional money would help in many areas, not just beefing up tax enforcement. He said the investments would make it “even less likely for honest taxpayers to hear from the IRS or receive an audit letter.”

Additional funding for the agency has been politically controversial since 2013, when the IRS under the Obama administration was found to have used inappropriate criteria to review tea party groups and other organizations applying for tax-exempt status.

In the ensuing years, the IRS was mostly on the losing end of congressional funding fights, even as a subsequent 2017 report found that both conservative and liberal groups were chosen for scrutiny.

In April, Rettig told lawmakers the agency’s budget has decreased by more than 15% over the past decade when accounting for inflation and said the number of full-time employees — 79,000 in the last fiscal year — was close to 1974 levels.

But Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y., and other Republicans weren’t buying the argument that the funding would be focused on auditing the wealthy.

“This is meant to nickel-and-dime, audit and harass America’s small businesses and families, who they know cannot afford the legal fees to fight this army,” Malliotakis said.

Sen. Ron Wyden, the Democratic chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, said a decade of Republican-led budget cuts gutted the IRS.

“The only way that House Republicans could make it any more obvious that they’re doing a favor for wealthy tax cheats is by coming out and saying it in exactly those words,” Wyden said. “This bill is going nowhere in the Senate.”

And the White House said President Joe Biden would veto the bill if it gets to his desk, saying that the wealthiest 1% of Americans hide about 20% of their income so they don’t have to pay taxes on it, shifting more of the tax burden to the middle class.

“With their first economic legislation of the new Congress, House Republicans are making clear that their top economic priority is to allow the rich and multibillion-dollar corporations to skip out on their taxes, while making life harder for ordinary, middle-class families that pay the taxes they owe,” the White House said.
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US House Adopts Rules Sought by Hardliners to Control McCarthy

The Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives on Monday adopted a package of internal rules that give right-wing hardliners more leverage over the chamber’s newly elected Republican speaker, Kevin McCarthy.   

Lawmakers voted 220-213 to approve the legislation. One Republican, Representative Tony Gonzales, joined all 212 Democrats in voting against the rules package. Another Republican did not vote.   

The rules package, which will govern House operations over the next two years, represented an early test of McCarthy’s ability to keep his caucus together, after he suffered the humiliation of 14 failed ballots last week before finally being elected speaker on Saturday.   

The legislation includes key concessions that hardliners sought and McCarthy agreed to in his quest for the speaker’s gavel. The changes include allowing a single lawmaker to call for his removal at any time. Other changes would place new restrictions on federal spending, potentially limiting McCarthy’s ability to negotiate government funding packages with President Joe Biden, whose fellow Democrats control the Senate.   

Democrats denounced the legislation as a rules package for “MAGA extremists” that would favor wealthy corporations over workers, undermine congressional ethics standards and lead to further restrictions on abortion services. 

“These rules are not a serious attempt at governing. They’re essentially a ransom note to America from the extreme right,” Representative Jim McGovern said.   

Gonzales, the lone Republican to oppose the legislation, said he objected to potential limits on U.S. defense spending at a time of growing tensions with Russia and China.   

His vote came despite an earlier warning from the grass-roots conservative group FreedomWorks, which said on Twitter: “If Tony’s a ‘NO’ on the House Rules Package he should not be welcomed into the 119th Congress.”   

Republicans have a narrow majority of 222-212 in the House, after winning fewer seats than expected in November’s midterm elections. This has amplified the hardliners’ power and raised questions about how the divided Congress will function.   

Lawmakers face critical tasks in the year ahead including addressing the federal government’s $31.4 trillion debt limit. Failure to do that, or even a long standoff, would shake the global economy.   

Other changes include a 72-hour waiting period between when a bill is introduced and when it can get a vote, a cap on government spending at 2022 levels, and the creation of a committee to investigate the Justice Department. 
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Meet the Clerk Who Kept Order While the House Chose Its Leader

Standing up to nominate Rep. Byron Donalds for House speaker, Republican Rep. Chip Roy addressed the woman presiding over the chamber as “Madam speaker.”

The third-term congressman quickly corrected himself. “Madam clerk,” he acknowledged with a smile.

The flub, coming on the second day of voting, illustrated the rising stature of House clerk Cheryl Johnson, a central figure in the drama that became a dayslong effort to select a speaker. Round by round, she called for the start of each vote and announced at the end that, once again, no speaker had been elected.

That is, until early Saturday morning, when she named Rep. Kevin McCarthy the victor after the 15th vote.

Who is Cheryl Johnson?

According to her official bio, Johnson is the 36th person to serve as clerk and was first sworn in by then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi in 2019. She is the first Black woman to preside over the House chamber.

A New Orleans native, Johnson has worked for the House for nearly two decades, serving as chief investigative counsel and spokesperson for the Committee on Education and the Workforce. She was also counsel for the committee with oversight over the Library of Congress and the Smithsonian Institution, where she worked for 10 years liaising with congressional committees with jurisdiction over its funding.

A journalism and mass communication graduate of the University of Iowa, Johnson earned her law degree from Howard University and graduated from the senior management program at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.

On Friday, in nominating Democratic House leader Hakeem Jeffries — whom Democrats unanimously supported throughout every round of voting — outgoing House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn addressed Johnson, thanking her for her service during a contentious week.

“Madam clerk, I want to begin by thanking you for your contribution to maintaining the dignity and honor of this august body,” said Clyburn, who as the No. 3 House Democrat had been the chamber’s highest-ranking Black member. “The eyes of the country are on us today. Let us consider what they will remember.”

What does the clerk do?

Until a speaker is chosen and members-elect are officially sworn in, the clerk oversees the chamber, tasked with calling each day’s session to order, calling the roll and deciding procedural questions that may arise.

It’s also up to the clerk to maintain order in the House chamber, which at times has involved using her gavel to tamp down a dull roar of chatter during the debate.

After there’s a speaker in place, the clerk’s role becomes more procedural, keeping records of floor activity, preparing, printing and distributing the daily journal, and certifying the passage of bills and resolutions.

The clerk also acts as a go-between for the House and the Senate, as well as the White House when the chamber isn’t in session, receiving and delivering messages. He or she also supervises the staff of any member who dies, resigns or is expelled, until a replacement is elected.

In addition to duties inside the chamber, there are several other offices whose jurisdiction falls under the clerk, including those tracking legislation, transcribing floor proceedings, and processing and retaining House records until they are transferred to the National Archives.

John Beckley of Virginia was chosen as the first clerk of the House in April 1789. The clerk also served as librarian of Congress until 1815, when that became a separate position.

How are clerks selected?

The clerk is a professional employee of Congress, one of the House officers elected every two years when the House organizes a new session.

Each caucus nominates candidates for those positions. Those elections happen after the session’s new speaker is selected.
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House Republicans Hold 14th Vote on House Speaker 

The U.S. House of Representatives has failed on a 14th ballot to elect a new speaker.

A band of 20 right-wing lawmakers has successfully blocked California Congressman Kevin McCarthy over four days of voting from becoming speaker because they believe he is not conservative enough.

McCarthy gained backing earlier Friday from 15 of the holdouts, coming up just a few votes short of the majority he needs to win the speakership. He must receive 218 votes to win the job, if all 434 current members of the House vote.

McCarthy’s path to winning depends on how many lawmakers are present for the vote, which affects the size of the winning majority, as well as how many of his opponents he can win over.

Allies of McCarthy say two Republican supporters of his leadership are planning to return to Washington Friday night for the vote, giving him a better chance to clinch the speakership.

McCarthy told reporters Friday he believed “we’ll have the votes to finish this once and for all.”

Committed to the contest

The Republican has never given any indication that he would drop out of the contest to lead the House, which would also, under a provision of the U.S. Constitution, make him second in the line of succession to the U.S. presidency.

Republicans hold a slim 222-212 margin over Democrats in the new session of the 118th Congress, with one current vacancy, meaning McCarthy can lose the support of no more than four Republicans and still be able to reach a majority of 218, if all Democrats vote.

Republicans who are holding up the vote for speaker say they want to reduce the power of the speaker’s office and give rank-and-file lawmakers more influence over the creation and passage of legislation.

McCarthy has acceded to several of the right-wing lawmakers’ demands, including allowing a single member to call for a snap internal House election to vacate the speakership if they don’t approve of his legislative policies or the way he is overseeing the chamber.

He has also promised them key committee assignments and full House votes on some of their legislative priorities, such as imposing term limits on lawmakers and stronger border controls to curb undocumented migrants from entering the U.S. across the southwestern border with Mexico.

House business on hold

It has been 100 years since neither a Republican nor a Democrat won the House speakership on the first round of voting.

Electing a speaker in the House is the chamber’s first order of business as a new session of Congress opens. Without a speaker, the lawmakers, all newly elected or reelected in last November’s nationwide congressional elections, have not been sworn in.

As such, the new Republican majority cannot form House committees to begin to consider legislation, start promised investigations of the Democratic administration of President Joe Biden, or provide constituent services for voters in their congressional districts.

The 57-year-old McCarthy has sought for years to lead the House. Over the past several weeks, he has met repeatedly with his Republican foes in an effort to secure their support.

Whomever the Republicans eventually elect will replace outgoing Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who remains a House member and cast her votes for Congressman Hakeem Jeffries, the new Democratic minority leader in the House. All House Democrats have voted for Jeffries on all the previous speakership ballots, but he has no chance of winning because no Republicans plan to vote for him to help him reach the 218 majority.

Democrats, who have been locked in a 50-50 split with Republicans in the Senate the past two years, gained an edge in the nationwide congressional elections nearly two months ago and will hold a 51-49 majority, counting three independents who work with the Democrats.

New senators were sworn in on Tuesday.
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McCarthy Finally Wins US House Speakership

It took 15 tries and five days, but California Congressman Kevin McCarthy has been elected speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives.

After the 14th ballot there was a move to adjourn until Monday, but that vote also failed after Republicans changed tactics and decided on a 15th effort to elect a new leader.

A band of 20 right-wing lawmakers had blocked McCarthy on previous ballots because they believe he is not conservative enough.

In an unusual confrontation, McCarthy had exchanged words with Republican Representative Matt Gaetz of Florida on the floor of the house chamber after the 14th ballot because the congressman had voted ‘Present’ instead of casting the vote that would have given McCarthy the speakership.

The Republican had never given any indication that he would drop out of the contest to lead the House, which would also, under a provision of the U.S. Constitution, make him second in the line of succession to the U.S. presidency.

Republicans hold a slim 222-212 margin over Democrats in the new session of the 118th Congress, with one current vacancy, meaning McCarthy could lose the support of no more than four Republicans and still be able to reach a majority of 218, if all Democrats vote.

Republicans who held up the election of the speaker say they want to reduce the power of the speaker’s office and give rank-and-file lawmakers more influence over the creation and passage of legislation.

McCarthy acceded to several of the right-wing lawmakers’ demands, including allowing a single member to call for a snap internal House election to vacate the speakership if they don’t approve of his legislative policies or the way he is overseeing the chamber.

He has also promised them key committee assignments and full House votes on some of their legislative priorities, such as imposing term limits on lawmakers and stronger border controls to curb undocumented migrants from entering the U.S. across the southwestern border with Mexico.

It has been 100 years since neither a Republican nor a Democrat won the House speakership on the first round of voting.

Electing a speaker in the House is the chamber’s first order of business as a new session of Congress opens. Without a speaker, the lawmakers, all newly elected or reelected in last November’s nationwide congressional elections, have not been sworn in.

As such, the new Republican majority cannot form House committees to begin to consider legislation, start promised investigations of the Democratic administration of President Joe Biden, or provide constituent services for voters in their congressional districts.

The 57-year-old McCarthy has sought for years to lead the House. Over the past several weeks, he has met repeatedly with his Republican foes in an effort to secure their support.

Whomever the Republicans eventually elect will replace outgoing Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who remains a House member and cast her votes for Congressman Hakeem Jeffries, the new Democratic minority leader in the House. All House Democrats have voted for Jeffries on all the previous speakership ballots, but he has no chance of winning because no Republicans plan to vote for him to help him reach the 218 majority.

Democrats, who have been locked in a 50-50 split with Republicans in the Senate the past two years, gained an edge in the nationwide congressional elections nearly two months ago and will hold a 51-49 majority, counting three independents who work with the Democrats.

New senators were sworn in Tuesday.
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