CNN Fact Checks Trump’s False Equivalence To Biden Documents

CNN’s Fact Checker Daniel Dale dismisses Defendant Donald Trump’s false equivalence to Joe Biden’s documents.

First, Fact check: Trump’s baseless ‘1,850 boxes’ attacks on Biden’s legal and normal University of Delaware documents collection:

In the weeks before Donald Trump was indicted over his alleged mishandling of classified defense documents and alleged attempt to cover it up, the former president kept arguing that it would be unfair to prosecute him given that President Joe Biden took “1,850 boxes” of documents to the University of Delaware.

Trump used the words “1,850 boxes” three times at a CNN town hall in May, adding two references to “1,800” boxes for good measure. Trump made similar comments on Thursday after learning he was being indicted by a federal grand jury, posting on social media that “Joe Biden has 1850 Boxes at the University of Delaware.”

But Trump’s vague insinuations [McCarthyism] that there is something improper about the existence of the Biden collection at the University of Delaware are baseless. The collection of donated documents is from Biden’s 36-year tenure as a US senator for Delaware. Unlike presidents, who are subject to the Presidential Records Act, senators own their offices’ documents and can do whatever they want with them – donate them to colleges, keep them at their homes, give them to journalists, even throw them in the trash.

“No statute governs their retention or disposition and there is no public right of access to congressional records, under FOIA or any other statute,” Margaret Kwoka, a law professor at The Ohio State University and an expert on information law, said in a Friday email.

Trump has also made false specific claims about the boxes of Biden’s Senate documents. It is not true that “nobody even knows where they are.” It is public knowledge that these documents are stored at his alma mater. It is also not true that Biden “has been totally uncooperative” and “won’t show the documents under any circumstances.” Biden consented to two FBI searches at the university – searches that did not initially appear to turn up any documents with classified markings, a source familiar with the investigation told CNN’s Paula Reid in February, though they were still being analyzed at the time.

The fact check goes into grater detail after this introduction.

As for Trump’s false equivalence argument to Mike Pence’s classified documents, DOJ closes Pence classified documents investigation with no charges:

Former Vice President Mike Pence will not be charged in the discovery of classified documents at his Indiana home, according to a letter obtained by NBC News.

[T]he Justice Department’s national security division informed Pence’s attorney that it had closed its investigation and that based on the “results” of that probe, no charges will be filed against the former vice president. Pence was interviewed as part of the DOJ’s investigation, along with several aides, according to a source familiar with the matter.

The Justice Department declined to comment, but a DOJ official confirmed that the department had sent the letter.

[A] Pence adviser told NBC that the former vice president and his team are pleased but not surprised by the investigation’s conclusion.

Earlier this year, Pence’s lawyers said that a “small number” of classified materials had been found at the former vice president’s home in Indiana after the FBI discovered classified records were initially discovered at a Washington think tank President Joe Biden used after he was vice president. The FBI later conducted a five-hour voluntary search of Pence’s home, and uncovered another classified document.

In the case of Biden, Attorney General Merrick Garland named a special counsel — former Justice Department attorney Robert Hur — to lead that investigation, but no special counsel was named in Pence’s case. The exact status of Hur’s probe remains unclear.

UPDATE: Biden classified documents investigation shows few signs of wrapping up soon:

Biden said this year that he was “cooperating fully and completely” with the Justice Department’s investigation.

Biden’s advisers, for instance, have determined he would provide an interview to the special counsel investigating his handling of classified documents once Biden’s legal team and the Justice Department agree on the conditions, these people said.

But Biden has yet to be interviewed, they said, suggesting that the investigation is not yet nearing a close. Interviewing the person at the center an investigation, if such a step takes place, is typically among the final actions before a probe is complete.

Biden’s aides have anticipated for months that he would provide an interview to the special counsel if asked, and they have discussed what form it might take, in the context of what past presidents have done.

A spokesperson for Biden’s personal attorney, Bob Bauer, declined to comment.

The White House declined to comment and referred questions to the Justice Department, citing an ongoing investigation.

A spokesperson for special counsel Robert Hur, who is conducting the Biden investigation, declined to comment.