Analysis: The Trump and Biden classified-document revelations are not the same
We know a bit more about the Trump documents. We know that the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago turned upin multiple locations around the facility. We know that one box alone in Trump’s office at the event facility, a room where he regularly entertained guests, held more than a dozen documents.
We also know that the seizure of those documents came only after a lengthy effort to secure documents that were produced during his presidency and were therefore government property. Thewas triggered in May 2021 when the National Archives contacted Trump’s team about documents it knew existed but were not in its possession. Over the next few months, the Archives and Trump’s team went back and forth on taking possession of the material.
In mid-January 2022, Trump’s team finally handed over a large quantity of material, boxes of documents that The Washington Post reported had been packed under the oversight of Trump himself. In early February, Trump pushed for a public statement declaring that he’d turned over all pertinent documents. His staff balked. The Archives, meanwhile, discovered that the returned material intermingled classified and other material.
In August, the FBI entered Mar-a-Lago to search for additional material. The dozens of documents mentioned above were found in this search.in at least 12 boxes in two rooms. Thousands of pages of other documents were also found, many of which probably fall into the category of presidential records that are property of the U.S. government.
We are by now deep enough into the Trump era of national politics that we are familiar with his attempts to rebut criticism by claiming that his opponents are doing equivalently bad or worse things. This is the approach he’s taking here, and, as always, his allies are echoing and elevating it.
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