AG Explains Disparate Classified Documents Treatment

While the Department of Justice saw fit to send a platoon of armed FBI agents to seize documents from former President Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence, no such dramatic enforcement effort has been expended in the retrieval of classified documents held in various locations by President Biden.

Attorney General Merrick Garland explained that "the situations are in no way analogous. Trump was a twice-impeached enemy of our democracy. President Biden is the nation's most prominent defender of our democracy. It stands to reason that different approaches are warranted."

Among the differences between the two cases is that President Biden's private lawyers--none of whom have the requisite security clearances for viewing classified documents--were given free-rein to peruse the stashes of documents held by Biden.

Garland cited what he called "the 'Berger precedent.' In 2003 Sandy Berger, former National Security Adviser during the Clinton Administration, illegally took classified documents from the National Archives on several occasions. Normally, a theft of classified documents would result in jail time. However, given the fact that Berger was working on behalf of former President Clinton--another defender of our democracy--the incident wasn't deemed serious and he was sentenced to just 100 hours of community service and a nominal fine."

"I don't know of anyone who thinks President Biden had any nefarious intent," Garland added. "The same can't be said for Trump. He has already announced another attempt to seize control of the US government in 2024. Everything that can be done must be done to prevent him from succeeding in his planned putsch."

By John Semmens