Biden Has Done Himself No Favors

Published in Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
(Germany) on 10 January 2023
by Andreas Ross (link to originallink to original)
Translated from by Mallory Matsumoto. Edited by Lisa Attanasio.
Joe Biden has in no way behaved like Donald Trump when it comes to handling classified documents. But the political damage is done—especially after Biden concealed the discovery for so long.

We need more information about the nature and number of files found at Joe Biden’s former office to determine whether the discovery is closer to a scandal or more like carelessness. But one fact has already been established: Biden’s lawyers found the classified documents from his time as Barack Obama’s vice president no later than Nov. 2, six days before the midterm elections.

The National Archives were apparently informed immediately according to regulations. But officials have kept the matter secret until now. If Biden wanted to motivate his opponents to invent new conspiracy fairy tales about him or the “deep state,” he has succeeded in his mission.

Legal Consequences Unlikely

The whole affair would barely have interested anyone had investigations not already been underway for months into Donald Trump, who took boxes of classified documents with him from the White House to his Mar-a-Lago golf club and resisted all official demands to return them — until the FBI showed up at his doorstep.

This recent incident takes on a very different dimension. All indications are that Biden does not have to fear any legal repercussions, and that has nothing to do with the fact that Merrick Garland is “his” attorney general. But for Biden and Garland, it has now become more difficult to publicly represent that the Trump investigation is legally necessary and not politically motivated.


Biden hat sich keinen Gefallen getan
Joe Biden hat sich beim Umgang mit Geheimakten keineswegs genauso verhalten wie Donald Trump. Doch der politische Schaden ist da – vor allem, weil er den Fund so lange verschwieg.

Man müsste mehr über die Art und Zahl der an Joe Bidens ehemaliger Wirkungsstätte aufgetauchten Akten wissen, um abschließend beurteilen zu können, ob sich der Fund eher auf Skandal oder auf Unachtsamkeit reimt. Ein Datum aber steht schon fest: Gefunden haben Bidens Anwälte die vertraulichen Dokumente aus seiner Amtszeit als Barack Obamas Vizepräsident spätestens am 2. November, also sechs Tage vor den Kongresswahlen.
Das Nationalarchiv wurde offenbar sofort ordnungsgemäß benachrichtigt, der Öffentlichkeit aber wurde die Sache bis jetzt verschwiegen. Wenn Biden seine Gegner motivieren wollte, neue Verschwörungsmärchen über ihn oder den „tiefen Staat“ zu erfinden, dann ist ihm die Operation gelungen.
Wohl kein juristisches Nachspiel
Die ganze Angelegenheit würde wohl kaum jemanden interessieren, wenn nicht seit Monaten gegen Donald Trump ermittelt würde, der kistenweise Dokumente aus dem Weißen Haus mit in seinen Golfklub genommen und allen Aufforderungen der Behörden zur Rückgabe getrotzt hatte – bis das FBI vor der Tür stand.
Dieser Vorgang hat eine ganz andere Dimension. Aller Voraussicht nach muss Biden kein juristisches Nachspiel fürchten, und das hat nichts damit zu tun, dass Merrick Garland „sein“ Justizminister ist. Aber für beide ist es nun noch schwerer geworden, der Öffentlichkeit zu vermitteln, dass das Verfahren gegen Trump nicht politisch motiviert, sondern juristisch geboten ist.
This post appeared on the front page as a direct link to the original article with the above link .

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