they know they had top secret documents and handed them over on the 2nd of November. The elections where 8th. So they clearly didn’t disclose this information to the public. If that isn’t burying a story I don’t know what is.
Was there a legal requirement for them to do so? Or, is this just politics? When they discovered the commingled documents (there were almost certainly hundreds of thousands - perhaps millions - taken away by the Biden administration when he left office), they immediately contacted National Archives and Records Administration to tell them. That is what is required by law. But Biden's administration contacting the media before an election to tell them about this is not required by law.
Biden (rather, a team of lawyers acting upon his instructions) then carried out a thorough search of all locations where he has records stored. If Biden was aware of particular records at particular locations which might prove problematic for him (say, within the garage of his own home), he could have removed or disposed of them in advance. Obviously, he did not do this.
Conversely, Trump did not volunteer his possession of secret or confidential records, and actively obstructed and then lied about the records he held when contacted and subpoenaed. From everything I understand about this law and how it is prosecuted, 'intent' is everything.
Biden could
not have personally vetted all those hundreds of thousands of documents. I mean, I have a few boxes of papers I've been dragging around for a good few years because of several house moves. If I cannot get around to weeding out those few papers, it is not remotely reasonable to expect Biden to have done this with rooms full of documents. Yes, as he did recently, he could have used a team to do this for him, but he'd first need to be aware of the problem.
Having said all that, this is very sloppy. Especially if this report is accurate:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jan/10/biden-classified-documents-ukraine-iran-uk-briefings
Some of the documents were marked as Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information, and according to CNN were commingled in the boxes with personal documents including planning materials for the 2015 funeral of the president’s son Beau Biden.
Biden was already a problematic proposition to stand for a second term. Too old. Or, at least, the appearance of being too old. And Harris appears to be unelectable. I think he should probably stand aside and there be an open primary for the next Democratic presidential candidate.
