As President Trump is formally indicted for his handling of classified documents, the federal investigation into President Joe Biden’s own handling of classified material is nearing completion.
Just a day after the November 8 midterm elections, the Justice Department quietly opened an investigation “to determine whether classified information had been mishandled in violation of federal law.”
This was after the president’s personal attorneys found a small number of classified documents, reportedly 10, in a Washington, D.C. think tank where Biden previously held a private office.
Biden and federal officials found documents at Penn Biden and at his home in Wilmington, and searched his beach house in Delaware after the initial discovery at Penn Biden days before the November election.
Citing three sources, NBC news reported Thursday that not only is the end of the Biden investigation not “imminent,” they have even yet to question the president.
As President Trump is formally indicted for his handling of classified documents, the federal investigation into President Joe Biden’s own dealings with classified material is nearing completion.
The president has insisted that he and his team be transparent and cooperate with investigators. He has also brushed aside reporters’ questions about the matter, sometimes outright ignoring them.
A source close to Biden’s team said there was “no escaping it” if the president is to be interviewed as part of the investigation. It will probably be one of the last interviews given.
The White House, Biden’s personal attorney and a spokesman for special counsel Robert Hur have all declined comment.
Hur was assigned as special counsel to investigate the documents found in Biden’s Wilmington home dating back to his time as vice president.
On November 2, Biden’s personal attorney discovered about 10 documents with secret markings on Nov. 2 at the Penn Biden Center, his private University of Pennsylvania think tank.
The material dates back to the Obama administration. The National Archives and Justice have been informed of the find.
But the crisis only came to public attention in January after CBS News reported their existence, drawing criticism for the Biden administration, which has promised transparency.
Days later, more classified documents were discovered at Biden’s residence in Wilmington, Delaware. Additional searches found more secret documents – about two dozen in all.
Biden and federal officials found documents at Penn Biden and at Biden’s home in Wilmington (pictured)
They were also found in the offices of a think tank where Biden settled before he became president
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre publicly took a beating for saying on multiple occasions that the search for documents was over, only to reveal additional searches that found additional documents.
The lack of disclosures, misstatements and Biden’s own testimony when asked about the matter contributed to the impression that the White House had not been forthcoming on the matter.
Administrative officials countered that the records and other federal agencies were immediately notified.
Trump has been charged with mishandling classified documents and has been subpoenaed to appear before a federal judge in Miami, he announced Thursday. He is charged with seven counts.
During an interview with 60 Minutes in September, Biden called Trump’s mishandling of files, hundreds of which were recovered in the Mar-a-Lago raid, “irresponsible.”
Trump has been charged with mishandling classified documents and has been subpoenaed to appear before a federal judge in Miami, he announced Thursday. He is charged with seven counts
Former President Donald Trump has been sensationally indicted on a slew of federal charges, including obstruction and violation of the Espionage Act over classified documents he took from Mar-a-Lago
Trump told Fox News Thursday night that the charges were “election interference” and “the greatest hunt of all time.”
He intends to plead not guilty, saying he is “totally innocent.”
It is the second set of charges this year against Trump, which plunge the country into fresh legal and political uncertainty as he campaigns to get back to business.
Prosecutors have been investigating the transfer of presidential files to his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida since last year.
The investigation made headlines in August when the FBI searched Trump’s beachfront home and recovered 11,000 documents, including about 100 classified as classified.
For his part, Trump has repeatedly maintained that he has done nothing wrong and that he is the victim of a federal witch hunt.
At times, the controversy has even boosted his standing in the polls and allowed him to raise money from supporters who see a “deep state” plot to take him out of the 2024 race.
“The corrupt Biden administration has informed my lawyers that I have been charged, apparently because of the Boxes Hoax, even though Joe Biden has 1,850 Boxes at the University of Delaware, additional Boxes in Chinatown, D.C., and more Boxes at the University of Pennsylvania, and documents scattered across his garage floor where he parks his Corvette, which is “secured” only by a garage door that is paper thin and open much of the time,” Trump wrote on Truth Social Thursday night.
“I have been subpoenaed to appear at the Federal Courthouse in Miami at 3:00 p.m. Tuesday. I never imagined that something like this could happen to a former president of the United States, who has received far more votes than any sitting president in the history of our country, and currently leads the vast majority of candidates, both Democrat and the president. Republican, in 2024 presidential election polls. I’M AN INNOCENT MAN!’
Donald Trump announced on Thursday that he had been charged with mishandling classified documents
Security around the Miami courthouse is already being heightened ahead of his appearance before a judge, scheduled for 3 p.m. on Tuesday.
Earlier this week, Trump took to his social media platform to condemn reports of impending charges.
“Wow, this turns out to be the biggest and most vicious example of election interference in our country’s history,” he wrote on Truth Social.
He had already earned the status of the first former president to face criminal charges. They relate to a $130,000 hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels.
In April, he appeared in Manhattan District Court charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records as part of an alleged plot to conceal harmful information from voters before the 2016 election.
Trump pleaded not guilty.
Legal analysts believe the documents case could be legally more difficult for the former president.
For the past year, a grand jury has heard testimony from Mar-a-Lago employees and former government officials who worked in Trump’s post-presidential office.
One of the last witnesses was Mark Meadows, Trump’s last White House chief of staff.
And Taylor Budowich, who served as Trump’s spokesman after his presidency and heads a pro-Trump political action committee, confirmed that he also testified.
Today, in what can only be described as a phony and deeply disturbing attempt to use government power to “get” Trump, I complied with a legal obligation to testify before a federal grand jury and answered every question fair,” he said. wrote on Twitter.
The investigation into Trump’s handling of classified documents is overseen by a special counsel, Jack Smith, who was appointed in November by Attorney General Merrick Garland.
On Monday, Trump’s lawyers met with Smith and his team in Washington, DC
On Wednesday, it was confirmed that Trump was an official target of the investigation.
Trump himself is currently in Bedminster, New Jersey, huddled with his advisers.