Experts said that there were indeed violations in Biden’s document handling methods, but whether it was subjective or intentional still needs to wait for further investigation results. “The Biden team chose to take the initiative to admit that it may have chosen to ‘stop the bleeding’ in order to avoid the hype of the Republican Party. The war of words between the two parties surrounding the incident shows the severe situation of partisanship polarization. Similar emergencies will have great impact on the direction of American politics. Great uncertainty.”
It should be a bad week for Biden.
On January 12, Biden admitted that a “small amount” of confidential documents during his tenure as vice president were also found in his private residence. This is the second batch of improperly disposed confidential documents that broke out within a week. U.S. Attorney General Garland said immediately that he had appointed Robert Hur as special counsel to investigate the documents issue.
According to a report by the National Broadcasting Corporation on the 12th, the US Department of Justice has interviewed several assistants of Biden when he was the Vice President of the United States to examine how confidential documents were brought to Biden’s residence and private office.
Edward Snowden, who leaked the U.S. “Prism Project” monitoring project, tweeted mockingly, “Wow, even I handle classified documents in a more secure way. At least I encrypt them!”
Diao Daming, deputy director of the Center for American Studies at Renmin University of China, who has long studied U.S. congressional politics, told the Daily Business News that Biden’s document handling methods did violate regulations, but whether it was subjective or intentional still needs to wait for further investigation results. “The Biden team chose to take the initiative to admit that it may have chosen to ‘stop the bleeding’ in order to avoid the hype of the Republican Party. The war of words between the two parties surrounding the incident shows the severe situation of partisanship polarization. Similar emergencies will have great impact on the direction of American politics. Great uncertainty.”
In addition, it is reported that the Republican-dominated House of Representatives is also pushing for a series of other investigations into Biden, including the overseas business relations of Biden’s son Hunter.
Take the initiative to break the news to stop the loss
On January 9, the US media disclosed that before the mid-term elections in November last year, 10 confidential documents were found in the think tank of Biden when he was the vice president of the Obama administration. Said to be “surprised”.
On January 12, Biden’s lawyer stated that a “small number” of confidential documents were found in Biden’s private residence in Wilmington, Delaware. in the study.
Edward Snowden, who leaked the U.S. “Prism Project” surveillance project, tweeted mockingly, “Wow, even I handle classified documents in a more secure way. At least I encrypt them!” He tweeted The real problem is not that Biden has classified documents, but that the Justice Department knew about it a week before the midterm elections, but chose to press it down, giving it a partisan advantage, the newspaper said.
A former CIA employee, Snowden is now in exile in Russia. He also complained about the experience of “whistleblowers” like himself. Snowden said that Reality Winner (former US intelligence expert) was sentenced to 5 years for leaking only one document, while Biden, Trump, Clinton, and Petraeus (former director of the US Central Intelligence Agency) had dozens , Hundreds of confidential documents will not go to jail.
U.S. Attorney General Garland appointed a special prosecutor on the 12th to investigate the matter. Earlier, Trump was investigated by the Justice Department’s special inspector for taking classified documents to a private residence and refusing to return them when he left the White House. It is very rare in the history of the United States that the former and current presidents are investigated by the special counsel at the same time.
Compared with Trump’s resistance, Biden has shown a positive and cooperative attitude on the confidential documents, saying that he will fully cooperate with the investigation. Biden also emphasized that each batch of documents was notified to the Department of Justice in a timely manner, but the White House did not inform the American public of this matter in a timely and complete manner.
According to the Associated Press, Biden’s personal lawyer discovered the first batch of documents as early as November 2 last year, but the White House did not confirm the news until January 9 when the media asked, but neither the White House nor Biden himself Keep quiet about the second batch of documents. In fact, the documents in Biden’s garage were discovered on December 20 last year, but the news was not announced until a few hours before Garland announced the appointment of a special prosecutor.
In response to the lag in disclosure, Diao Daming pointed out to the reporter of “Daily Economic News” that “at that time (Biden administration) may not have noticed that the Republican camp was preparing to hype this matter. Under no circumstances should it be detonated before the midterm elections, including Georgia’s Senate runoff on December 6.”
Diao Daming said that according to the “Presidential Archives Act” passed by the United States in 1978, the documents of the president and vice president, especially the confidential documents, should be managed by the national archives agency. Definitely an illegal or illegal act. “The overriding question now is, were these documents an act of deliberation, or were they negligent on the part of staff upon leaving office? This is subject to further investigation by the special counsel.”
From the perspective of law enforcement practice, when the U.S. Department of Justice decides whether to file a lawsuit for the mishandling of state secrets, the subjective intention of the parties is an important determinant. Biden, for his part, is indeed emphasizing the possibility of oversight. Biden’s lawyer Richard Sauber said, “We are confident that a full investigation will show that these documents were inadvertently placed improperly.”
Diao Daming quoted American media reports that Biden had a very busy agenda in the weeks before he stepped down as vice president in 2017. While his assistants were cleaning up office documents, new confidential documents were constantly being produced. This was interpreted by the media as Possible reasons for the file not being cleaned up. But he also stressed that the final conclusion is still subject to investigation to know.
However, even if the Justice Department finally finds that Biden broke the law, as the current president, Biden still has the right to immunity from prosecution.
Partisanship becomes polarized and “evil fights” intensify
For Biden, the legal risk brought by the “document gate” may not be great, but the political risk is hard to ignore. After twists and turns, Kevin McCarthy finally won the position of Speaker of the House of Representatives as he wished. After the Republican infighting came to an end, the House of Representatives was already preparing to launch a series of investigations into Biden. The “document door” was simply a target.
On January 10, the U.S. House of Representatives Oversight and Accountability Committee quickly announced an investigation into the improper handling of Biden documents. The Republican leader of the House Intelligence Committee, Mike Turner, asked Attorney General Garland and Director of National Intelligence Avril Haynes to attend a deliberation meeting on January 26 to report on the matter.
A major criticism of the Republican Party is accusing Biden and the Democrats of “hypocrisy” and “double standards.” Trump said angrily on his personal social media, “When will the FBI search multiple residences of Biden, even the White House?”
Republican Congressman Dan Crenshaw of Texas said on social media that it is actually more dangerous for Biden to put documents in think tanks and garages, “but there was no raid, no search of Biden’s residence, nothing. This is Hypocrisy of the highest order, very dangerous.”
According to US media reports, Biden is considering seeking re-election, and the improper handling of documents has given opponents an excuse to criticize him.
When talking about the political impact of the incident, Diao Daming believes that if the final investigation results show that the amount of documents involved in Biden’s “document gate” is not large, the content is not highly confidential, and the staff is negligent, then Biden is at most Overseeing, this matter may gradually subside, and it will not have a major impact on his future re-election. “But if the matter intensifies as the investigation deepens, for example, if information that can be dug up is found in the document, then it is necessary to look at the development of the situation.”
“However, at the beginning of the new year and when the new Congress was in place, this incident surrounding Biden and his team fully demonstrated the seriousness of party polarization and vicious fighting,” Diao Daming added Dao said, “At the same time, it also shows to a large extent that it is more and more likely that emergencies will have a great influence and influence on American electoral politics. There is still great uncertainty in the direction of American politics and the 2024 general election. .”
It is reported that the Republican-dominated House of Representatives is pushing for a series of other investigations into Biden, including the overseas business ties of Biden’s son Hunter. Republican Rep. James Comer said the investigation was “a top priority for House Republicans during the 118th Congress.” In addition, the scope of the investigation also includes Biden’s handling of the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, the failure of border control and other issues.
The author of this article is Li Menglin, source:daily economic newsthe original title: “Biden’s “document door” fermentation: the US Department of Justice launched an investigation, private homes were searched, many assistants were interviewed, and the Republican Party is still brewing big moves”
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