Pirate's Cove

We’re totally in the spin phase with the Credentialed Media, where what Trump did was Bad and what Biden and Hillary did was not so bad

No, Donald Trump’s classified documents case is not like Joe Biden or Hillary Clinton cases

Almost immediately after the Justice Department on Friday unsealed its indictment against Donald Trump, the former president’s allies began crying foul, noting that — at least so far — no charges have been filed against President Joe Biden for retaining classified documents from his time as vice president or against Hillary Clinton for her use of a private email server as secretary of state.

Posting to Twitter on Friday, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., denounced the “double standard.” And appearing on ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said Clinton “got away” with doing something “similar” to what Trump did.

Trump himself has made similar claims.

But a review of government documents and public statements tied to all three investigations suggests there are key differences between the evidence uncovered in Trump’s case and the others. It also helps to explain why the Justice Department recently declined to charge former Vice President Mike Pence for his handling of classified documents after leaving office.

Key differences, y’all! Key!

The most glaring difference between Trump’s case and Clinton’s case is what prosecutors found about their intent: While the indictment against Trump alleges he violated the Espionage Act through “willful retention of national defense information,” prosecutors in Clinton’s case determined they couldn’t show she was “willful” in her intent.

In fact, as later recounted by the Justice Department’s inspector general, prosecutors in Clinton’s case concluded the evidence they gathered showed “a lack of intent to communicate classified information on unclassified systems.”

Intent! Actually, intent has no bearing on the Clinton case: she had documents of various secret classifications, some of which should never have left a secure reading room. Documents were kept on a homebrew server, in violation of multiple federal laws and regulations. She was transmitting using a non-approved email address. Hillary employees who had no authorization to see the documents had access to them. Intent has nothing to do with it. A kid was prosecuted for taking a photo while on a submarine. Did he have intent? No. Just a dumb kid trying to impress his girlfriend. James Comey essentially laid out why Hillary should have been prosecuted, and the case start with a grand jury, during his press conference, before saying “never mind.”

Biden? He took the documents. Are any as secret as Trump’s? It doesn’t matter. He had them, and he wasn’t even a president. He couldn’t declassify. They were scattered all over. Including in his garage next to the Vette, where anyone could access them, including his drug addled son Hunter. It was irresponsible.

Consider that Ford pardoned Nixon so the country could move on. Despite all Trump’s calls to “lock her up”, he never let his DOJ of the chains to prosecute Hillary, because it would be a political prosecution. And that’s what this is. Regardless of whether what Trump did was wrong, you can bet all presidents have done this, and Biden’s DOJ intentionally went to find something from the start. The DOJ has most likely spent no time looking at Biden’s situation

The Credentialed Media will run lots of this “it’s not the same!” articles, but, are most people buying it? No. Of course, most would like both Trump and Biden to go away.

18 U.S. Code § 1924 – Unauthorized removal and retention of classified documents or material

(a)Whoever, being an officer, employee, contractor, or consultant of the United States, and, by virtue of his office, employment, position, or contract, becomes possessed of documents or materials containing classified information of the United States, knowingly removes such documents or materials without authority and with the intent to retain such documents or materials at an unauthorized location shall be fined under this title or imprisoned for not more than five years, or both.

Biden did, in fact, remove those documents knowingly, and knowing he had zero authority to do so, and retained those documents at multiple unauthorized locations. It’s a federal felony. He even had documents from prior to his time as VP. He doesn’t get to say “my bad!” all these years later. Unless there is a two-tiered justice system.