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What could be the consequences of the Joe Biden classified documents incident?
After hitting out at Donald Trump for the same misstep there could be big repercussions for the president if charges are brought.
Joe Biden has gotten himself into hot water after leaving classified documents from his time as vice-president in his house. Over the course of the past three months, Biden’s team have voluntarily submitted three batches of classified materials to the National Archives and the Department of Justice, but this information was not disclosed during the run-up to the midterm elections.
The attorney general, Merrick Garland, appointed a special counsel, former US attorney Robert Hur, to look into the matter.
The find is similar to the documents found by a police raid on Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort back in August, which was attacked for its carelessness by Democrats.
Don Bacon, a Nebraska Republican, told ABC’s This Week: “It just just reminds me of that old adage, ‘If you live in a glass house don’t throw stones.’ And I think President Biden was caught throwing stones.”
So what could happen?
A difference between Biden and Trump’s situations are that Trump actively tried to prevent the government from having the documents back while Biden returned them without being asked. However, with the first batch found a month before the election, when they were not declared publicly, will leave a bad taste in mouths.
Under the Espionage Act, any unauthorised retention, mishandling or transmission of documents violates the law. This act, first introduced in 1917, is so wide in its scope that if a case is brought it more than likely ends in conviction. Though neither Trump nor Biden could be classed as whistleblowers by holding on to these documents, people leaking state secrets that have shown the scale of global surveilance or war crimes such as Edward Snowden and Chelsea Manning have previously been arrested under the act’s remit.
For the cases of the two presidents, charges are likely if authorities believe there was obstruction or an intent to release the classified information, according to national security legal expert Brad Moss.
A close comparison could be the Hilary Clinton personal email scandal. She was investigated by the FBI after confidential emails were sent from her personal account and she was cleared of criminality. Expect the same for Biden but maybe not for Trump.