WASHINGTON, DC- In what appears to be disparate treatment between a Republican and a Democrat, Just The News reported that on the eve of the 2022 midterm elections, National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) officials entered into negotiations with the Biden legal team over his retention of classified documents. That sharply contrasts how those same NARA officials conducted correspondence with former President Donald Trump.
Entering negotiations over the classified materials isn’t in itself unusual. What appears to be exceptional is that NARA suddenly changed course in talks with Team Biden, notifying Biden’s attorney that the agency would need to take charge of materials Biden had secreted at the Penn-Biden Center in Washington, DC.
“Pat, I believe that Gary will be reaching out to you and/or Bob. Based on some discussions this evening, we need to change our approach,” read an email dated Nov. 7, 2022, between NARA’s William Bosanko and Biden’s attorney Patrick Moore.
“I believe that tomorrow we will need to take temporary physical custody of all of the textual (or other) record material (likely not artifacts). More as this develops. Maybe we can arrange a call for the morning? Jay.”
Contrast that approach with that taken toward former President Trump, where his home at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, was raided by armed FBI agents last August in a pre-dawn raid, also to seize presidential records, as reported by the New York Post. In that case, the FBI searched for classified documents that Trump allegedly removed from the White House.
In the case of Biden, it appears that initially, Moore and Bosanko were coordinating a site visit by the archives to the Penn-Biden Center, a visit originally scheduled for Nov. 8, 2022 to “assess the remaining boxes and take custody of whichever ones we deem appropriate for further review.”
However, the subsequent email between Bosanko and Moore signaled a rather abrupt change in NARA’s course, accelerating from reviewing the materials at the center while removing only necessary materials to seizing the entire lot.
Just The News reported that while seizing materials from the Penn-Biden Center, Moore came across many classified records, including intelligence on Ukraine, Iran, and the United Kingdom. After those discoveries, further investigations of Biden-occupied premises and offices were undertaken, leading to the discovery of additional materials.
Last March, NARA told congressional Republicans that additional documents had been recovered from Moore’s Boston office.
The seizure of documents at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence led Attorney General Merrick Garland to name a special prosecutor, Jack Smith, to investigate the former president's alleged mishandling of classified documents.
Until recently, Garland had appeared to sidestep the issue of a special counsel to look into Biden’s handling of classified documents. The difference between the two cases is that as a former president, Trump has wide latitude in removing documents, even being allowed to declassify any documents he desires.
Meanwhile, Biden, who removed classified documents as vice president, enjoys no such authority. After intense pressure from congressional Republicans, Garland relented and named Robert Hur as special counsel to investigate Biden. Thus far, Trump has been indicted for removed documents, while nothing meaningful has come out of the investigation into Biden.
Entering negotiations over the classified materials isn’t in itself unusual. What appears to be exceptional is that NARA suddenly changed course in talks with Team Biden, notifying Biden’s attorney that the agency would need to take charge of materials Biden had secreted at the Penn-Biden Center in Washington, DC.
“Pat, I believe that Gary will be reaching out to you and/or Bob. Based on some discussions this evening, we need to change our approach,” read an email dated Nov. 7, 2022, between NARA’s William Bosanko and Biden’s attorney Patrick Moore.
“I believe that tomorrow we will need to take temporary physical custody of all of the textual (or other) record material (likely not artifacts). More as this develops. Maybe we can arrange a call for the morning? Jay.”
Contrast that approach with that taken toward former President Trump, where his home at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, was raided by armed FBI agents last August in a pre-dawn raid, also to seize presidential records, as reported by the New York Post. In that case, the FBI searched for classified documents that Trump allegedly removed from the White House.
In the case of Biden, it appears that initially, Moore and Bosanko were coordinating a site visit by the archives to the Penn-Biden Center, a visit originally scheduled for Nov. 8, 2022 to “assess the remaining boxes and take custody of whichever ones we deem appropriate for further review.”
However, the subsequent email between Bosanko and Moore signaled a rather abrupt change in NARA’s course, accelerating from reviewing the materials at the center while removing only necessary materials to seizing the entire lot.
Just The News reported that while seizing materials from the Penn-Biden Center, Moore came across many classified records, including intelligence on Ukraine, Iran, and the United Kingdom. After those discoveries, further investigations of Biden-occupied premises and offices were undertaken, leading to the discovery of additional materials.
Last March, NARA told congressional Republicans that additional documents had been recovered from Moore’s Boston office.
The seizure of documents at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence led Attorney General Merrick Garland to name a special prosecutor, Jack Smith, to investigate the former president's alleged mishandling of classified documents.
Until recently, Garland had appeared to sidestep the issue of a special counsel to look into Biden’s handling of classified documents. The difference between the two cases is that as a former president, Trump has wide latitude in removing documents, even being allowed to declassify any documents he desires.
Meanwhile, Biden, who removed classified documents as vice president, enjoys no such authority. After intense pressure from congressional Republicans, Garland relented and named Robert Hur as special counsel to investigate Biden. Thus far, Trump has been indicted for removed documents, while nothing meaningful has come out of the investigation into Biden.
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