Government Documents in a Garage: the Investigation on Biden

(As of February 7th, 2023)

Joe Biden’s lawyers discovered “a small number” of classified documents in Biden’s think tank on November 2nd, but the public, media, and even most of the White House staff members didn’t know until over two months later (New York Times). Biden’s lawyers reported the documents as missing to the National Archives on the same day they were found, and the documents were retrieved the day after. The incident was quietly resolved and, with no word to the press or public, it was thought to be over. However, on December 20th, another set of classified documents was found by Biden’s lawyers in the garage of his Wilmington house. This was not only reported to the National Archives, but to the Justice Department as well.

On January 12th, additional searches revealed one more document, and a special counsel was appointed on the same day to continue investigating. On January 14th, the White House stated that five more pages of classified information were found in a storage room in Biden’s house in Wilmington, and on January 20th, investigators from the Justice Department found more than six additional documents in Wilmington, “some of which were classified” (New York Times).

Many details about the situation remain vague, even months later. The definitive number isn’t publicly available, although it can be assumed through public statements that there were at least seven documents and five or more classified pages discovered at the Wilmington house. The content of these documents has not been declassified or revealed in any way, so the importance of these documents cannot be gauged either. Even with the lack of detail, the investigation dominated major headlines for most of January. The public has put forth several ideas as to how and why these documents ended up in Biden’s personal home, and many are comparing this situation to those of past elected officials who also had classified documents in their personal properties. 

“Initially, I knew there was gonna be a lot coming out about it because of the way things were handled with Trump’s documents and the fact that he had so many classified ones at Mar A Lago,” said Mr. Goslin, a history teacher at Central. “As soon as they found them with Biden, I thought ‘Well, the Republicans are going to come for him’.”

Ms. Flugge, another Central history teacher, says “I don’t know that it is that comparable. Both Biden and former Vice President Pence have found classified documents in their personal papers in recent months, and have willingly cooperated with investigators and turned over the documents. The former president did not cooperate, and did not willingly turn over all the classified documents in his possession.”

Some have called Biden hypocritical for voicing his dissent towards Trump over the Mar-A-Lago situation. Others argue that the situations are different because of the lack of legal cooperation on Trump’s end as well as the number of documents found. The number of classified documents that were retrieved from the Mar-A-Lago estate is reported to be over 300, some of which were marked top secret.

“It gives credibility, unfortunately, to Trump, by the Trump supporters saying ‘Hey, listen, everybody’s doing this,’ when they’re obviously very different situations,” says Mr. Morton, another history teacher at Central. “If you look at the multiple attempts by the National Archives and the Federal Government to get documents from Trump, in which he waited for legal battles to force his hand … they got those documents and they still had to do an FBI raid. So there’s a difference between that and Biden. However, that nuance is going to be lost, mostly on Trump supporters, who will now just say that this is a problem every former president has.”

The uproar over the fact that Biden criticized Trump while also having documents at his house overshadowed some of the speculations as to how the documents got there in the first place. There are some who believe Biden or his staff took these documents purposefully, but the most popular explanation is that it was a genuine accident.

The system that the National Archives uses to keep track of its documents is known to be disorganized and flawed. Previous White House officials have noted that though there is a secure system for highly classified information, there is a much more casual system in place for documents of lower classification. Often, these classified documents see everyday use in the White House, passing through many hands and across many desks. Additionally, as the White House transitions between Presidents, it becomes extremely disorganized. People are scrambling to pack up their offices and prepare for the new presidency, and, as previous White House officials have noted, it is very possible that the lower classification documents can get mixed in with personal belongings during such a hectic period (New York Times).

Mr. Morton said, “I think it’s likely that it was carelessness. A lot of the time, elected officials have a whole team of staffers who take care of most of these things, and it’s probably a staffer who forgot to put things back. I think it just comes back to the oversight of how these documents should be handled”.

Mr. Goslin adds, “I’m sure they go through tons of paper, they have tons of documents that they deal with every single day. I’m sure some just probably got mixed in by accident… which isn’t a good look if you’re a president and you’re handling a lot of classified information”.

Regardless of how they got there, most agree that the fact that documents were found with three major politicians over the past year is something to be looked into. “I think it’s really interesting that the National Archives is now doing a full investigation into all past presidents… our whole government has to reevaluate how they take care of classified and sensitive documents,” Mr. Morton says. “It’d be nice if we could hold our elected officials to higher accountability”.

Mr. Johnson, a history and government teacher at Central, says he feels that “most Americans value transparency in their president. I think the nature of politics is that it’s not transparent, at least in most cases, and that might just be the reality… as a voting American, I do want my leaders to be transparent, and I think that is a raw American ideal in democracy.”

Mr. Goslin says, “Part of our job as citizens and the media is to keep [politicians] accountable and make sure what they’re doing is transparent, to the point that we know if they’re doing something like this.”

However much this will affect Biden’s image, if at all, remains to be seen. The news coverage is beginning to wane, but whether it maintains relevancy in the future is another thing. “That depends on how much the national media continues to give oxygen to the story,” Ms. Flugge says. “There are political pundits who tend to sensationalize stories like this for the purpose of increasing viewership, rather than reporting on the facts of the situation. As a result, Biden and his staff end up dealing with the fallout, rather than being able to focus on governing the country.”