What’s the difference between the Trump and Biden classified documents investigations?
Special counsel Robert Hur noted the differences between investigations into President Joe Biden’s and former President Donald Trump’s handling of classified documents in a section of his report on Thursday.
The Hur report said that Trump’s case was different from Biden’s because the former president allegedly “obstructed justice” after being given chances to return classified documents.
“Most notably, after being given multiple chances to return classified documents and avoid prosecution, Mr. Trump allegedly did the opposite,” the report said. “According to the indictment, he not only refused to return the documents for months, but he also obstructed justice by enlisting others to destroy evidence and then to lie about it.”
The report compared Trump’s alleged behavior with Biden’s, laying out the ways the president cooperated with the special counsel throughout the course of the investigation.
“In contrast, Mr. Biden alerted authorities, turned in classified documents to the National Archives and the Department of Justice in 2022 and 2023, consented to the search of multiple locations including his homes, permitted the seizure and review of handwritten notebooks he believed to be his personal property, and in numerous other ways cooperated with the investigation.”
An attorney for Trump declined to comment on Hur’s distinction between the two probes.
A member of Bob Bauer’s team, which serves as the personal counsel to Biden, referred NBC News to a statement that read in part: “The Special Counsel also noted the President’s complete cooperation, including the President’s unprecedented decision to open up every room of his family home and beach house to comprehensive FBI searches as well as a voluntary interview conducted