Going to start with.
President Biden's
lawyer is finding
a small number
of classified documents during h
as vice president
in his former private office.
That happened last fall on Novem
They found it.
As a matter of fact,
the documents were discovered
in a lot closet
at the PEN Biden Center in Washi
And Biden appears
to be cooperating
with the National Archives
Who referred the matter
to the Justice Department
for further investigation.
And Republicans
have seized on the revelations.
But to be clear,
there are distinctions
between what we know about this
and Donald Trump's
hoarding of secret records at Ma
Here's what the president told
CBS 60 Minutes
back in September when asked abo
When you saw the photograph
of the top secret documents
laid out on the floor of Mar a L
what did you think to yourself?
Looking at that image,
how how that could possibly
happen,
how one any one could be
that irresponsible.
So to start us off,
we want to bring in now CNN's se
legal affairs correspondent, Pau
Paula, good morning. An unusual
How did this happen?
Unusual, indeed.
Don, good morning.
Well,
these materials were discovered
by a lawyer for President Biden
on November 2nd.
We learned that they were in the
of closing out a Washington, D.C
based office
that Biden used
when he worked as an honorary pr
from about 20. 17 to 20. 19.
Now, they say they uncovered
fewer than a dozen classified do
at the office, but it's unclear
what they pertain to
or why they were in this office.
Now, when these materials
were discovered, the White House
counsel's office notified
the National Archives.
They took possession of the mate
were told the following morning.
But Attorney General Merrick Gar
he is assigned the U.S.
attorney in Chicago
to review this matter
and conduct a damage assessment.
Now, Don, it's
interesting
that he is one of only two curre
Trump holdover U.S.
attorneys still serving.
The other is a Delaware U.S.
attorney
who is leading an investigation
into the president's son.
Biden in a statement,
Biden's
attorney says they are cooperati
with the archives
and the Department of Justice.
But there's a lot more
we still need to know about
how these materials ended up the
how certain they are
that these are the only ones.
And of course, how secure
were these documents
while they were in this office?
Okay.
So, Paula,
speaking of differences,
can you lay out the differences
between this
and the Mar a Lago document issu
It's a great question, Don.
So based on what Biden's team is
they are setting up some key dif
from the Trump case.
The first one is just
the volume of materials
that we're talking about.
At this point,
the Biden matter, we're dealing
less than a dozen documents
versus the hundreds in the Trump
Another big difference is cooper
Biden's lawyers
say they immediately cooperated.
They turned over the documents
they discovered
and that they continue to cooper
with the Justice Department
when it comes to Trump.
There was months of back and for
where he refused and ignored
the government requests
and really only handed over
many of the documents
when subpoenas were obtained.
The other big difference
at this point is obstruction.
Biden is not under investigation
for potential obstruction.
Trump
is as well as being under invest
for potential violations
of the Espionage Act.
So at this point, Mar-A-Lago app
to be a much
more complex investigation,
a more complex set of legal issu
But on the Biden matter,
it's only come to light
in the past 24 hours,
and we'll continue to report it
Former President
Trump is also under investigatio
for possibly
mishandling that classified info
This is going to be politicized.
I imagine it is already been pol
By those on the right
and the former president.
How is he reacting?
Well, the former president,
he posted on his truth
social platform asking, quote,
When is the FBI going to raid
the many homes of Joe Biden,
perhaps even the White House?
These documents
were definitely not declassified
Now, that term raid,
that is a term that his legal te
has been chastised
by a federal judge for using
because he is referring
to a duly executed search warran
that was carried out
over the summer
after information was obtained
the documents were being moved.
But interestingly,
I spoke with a member
of his legal team last night
and they think the Biden case
actually helps their defense.
They say, look,
this just illustrates the proble
with overclassification and gove
But they're also watching these
very closely.
They're looking for any differen
in the handling of the two probe
as they argue.
The Justice Department
has made the Mar
a Lago matter
more contentious than necessary.
But but we'll see.
Again, we've been covering Mar a
for a lot longer and Don,
if it's one thing
I've learned over the past
seven years of covering
various very high profile offici
who may or may not have mishandl
classified information,
these things are never simple.
Joining us
is national
security and security clearance
law expert Bradley Moss.
He is a deputy executive
director of the James Madison Pr
Bradley. Good morning to you.
Thank you
so You heard Caitlin and Paula
discussing this.
You say
that these are two completely
different cases.
Can you put that into context fo
What do you mean by that?
Sure.
Don and Paula kind of teed it up
a little bit there for me.
The distinction here is not nece
that there was the unauthorized
of these documents.
Even a single document
is a potential criminal issue
where the Biden team
has diverged here,
at least so far,
based on what we know from the r
is the cooperation
and the absence of obstruction
in which they have engaged
compared to what Donald Trump di
Remember, Donald Trump
dragged it out for months
to comply with Nara
when the first batch of
classified records were found.
He fired the fort an hour
a bunch in terms of stuff
being handled over to DOJ.
Then they obstructed the subpoen
They provided the false
sworn declaration, etc., etc.
leading up to finally
that search warrant
execution at Mar a Lago in Augus
That is a clear distinction
from what the Biden team here di
They found records.
They immediately contact Nara.
They turn them over the next mor
in compliance with the protocols
That's what you're supposed to d
But one started this an investig
asking for the documents back,
and the other one was discovered
by the very person who had them,
their own people. Correct.
There is a that's a major distin
That's also a separate distincti
Yes, absolutely, Don.
And in the Espionage Act provisi
that a lot of us
have always been referencing
that was referenced
in the search warrant from Mar a
One of the key issues is failure
to return
the unauthorized retained docume
when confronted and sought
from the authorized government p
That's what happened with Donald
They asked for them back
and he was obstructing
and fighting them on it.
That never happened here with Jo
Now, obviously,
if there's more documents to com
if there are
if there's evidence of obstructi
that does ultimately emerge
in the Biden case,
that would be a different issue.
But so far, it's
completely apples to oranges her
Okay.
So is there any could he face
any sort of consequences
for having these these documents
even if he says
he didn't know about them?
Realistically, no.
And by
and large, for the most part,
when it comes to unauthorized
retention cases,
the government doesn't
like to bring criminal cases.
Usually it's very complicated.
They have to have all kinds
of classified discovery.
It's usually an administrative m
once they've secured the documen
Joe Biden is now the president.
There's no administrative mechan
to take against him,
just like there never
would have been one against Dona
while he was president.
He's exempt from all that.
So the only way Joe
Biden can really get in trouble
is if he or a staff on his behal
obstruct the investigation.
And so far,
there isn't appear to be
any evidence of that. Gotcha.
Bradley Moss, thank you so much.