CNN reports that Joe Biden was in possession of classified information in his private office at a Washington DC think tank affiliated with the University of Pennsylvania. It’s worth pointing out that Biden is currently the president of the United States and is entitled to have classified information, but the circumstances indicate that he had these documents during the Trump administration when they should have been held either by the National Archives or, more likely, by the appropriate stakeholders.
Now, everyone seems to be at pains to underscore how this situation is dissimilar from the investigation into Donald Trump’s handling of classified information at Mar-a-Lago after he left office. And, it’s true that these documents were discovered by Biden attorneys and immediately turned over to the National Archives. There was no outside request that was ignored, nor any search warrant that was required. No lawyers erroneously or dishonestly vouched that Biden was not in possession of classified documents and there was no effort to obstruct justice.
However, these documents should not have been in Biden’s private office in the years that he was a private citizen. He should be accountable for this mistake, assuming it was a mistake, just as Trump should be accountable for mishandling classified information. The initial reports suggest the documents pertained to Ukraine, the United Kingdom and Iran, and Merrick Garland has appointed a Trump-appointed U.S. Attorney to look into the matter.
There’s really no reason to make excuses for Biden. What’s important is that we have a better system for collecting sensitive documents when one administration transitions to another. Because, what’s similar in this case to the Mar-a-Lago case is that classified information wound up packaged along with personal items, including documents related to Beau Biden’s funeral arrangements. That kind of slip up is perhaps understandable, and if Trump had apologized for his sloppiness and cooperated in fixing the problem, he wouldn’t be facing possible prosecution today. I don’t think Biden should should face prosecution based on what we know so far, but he does need to cooperate in a thorough investigation.
However things shake out, neither party should want our nation’s secrets to be insecure so a new process should be developed and put in place. No process is likely to work correctly if the outgoing president refuses to concede the election and instead attempts to launch a coup. But there’s no reason we can’t make orderly transitions more orderly.
