one of these classified document incidents is not like the other

how to explain the difference to your drunk racist uncle on Facebook

graphic by CNN

and here we go again … your racist uncle on facebook is probably screaming his drunk head off right now about WhY DiDn’T tHe FBI rAiD JoE BiDeN’s hOmE!!!!

and the mainstream media isn’t helping, both-sidesing the fuck out of their reporting to make it seem like Joe Biden is every bit the state secret thief that Donald Trump is.

Jeff Tiedrich @itsJeffTiedrich

weird how Joe Biden found classified documents and voluntarily returned them without claiming he magically declassified them, or saying the FBI planted them, or lying about having already returned them, or needing to have his shitty golf motel searched. what game is Biden playing

there’s a lot of noise out there right now and the Moron Brigade is doing its best to obfuscate the facts.

so here’s a simple explainer that you can forward to the MAGAs in your life.

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joe biden

• Nov 2, 2022: lawyers discover 10 classified docs while packing up an office at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement.

• Nov 3, 2022: lawyers return documents to the National Archive.

donald trump

(this is actually an abbreviated list. I’ve just hit the high points here.)

• May 2021: The National Archives emails Trump's lawyers, notifying them that some two dozen boxes of original records were not turned over.

• December 2021: a Trump representative tells the Archives that they had located some records.

• Mid-January 2022: the Archives retrieves 15 boxes of records from Trump's estate. the Archives said it "identified items marked as classified national security information, up to the level of Top Secret and including Sensitive Compartmented Information and Special Access Program materials.”

• February 8, 2022: The National Archives issues a statement saying it is still searching for more of Trump's presidential records.

• February 10, 2022: The New York Times reports White House staff periodically found clumps of documents clogging White House toilets. Maggie Haberman later releases photos of some of the found documents.

• April 11, 2022: the White House Counsel's Office under Biden formally requests that the National Archives give the FBI access to the 15 boxes.

• April 29 and May 1, 2022: Trump lawyer Evan Corcoran seeks to delay disclosure to the FBI in two letters sent to the National Archives.

• May 10, 2022: acting U.S. Archivist Debra Steidel Wall responds to Corcoran, rejecting Trump's requested delay and refusing his "'protective' claim of privilege," adding the FBI can access the records as soon as May 12.

• June 3, 2022: a ununamed Trump representative asserts that "a diligent search" was conducted for documents at Mar-a-Lago removed from the White House and that "any and all responsive documents accompany this certification."

• August 8, 2022: federal agents execute a search warrant at Mar-a-Lago, uncovering another 13 boxes or containers with documents marked classified..

so there you have it. Biden’s legal team returned their documents the next day. Donald Trump lied and obstructed for over a year, leading to a search warrant and an FBI search.

also, let’s not forget what happened after the search: Donald Trump spewed conflicting excuses about the documents: the FBI planted them (they didn’t), he magically unclassified them (he couldn’t), the documents were his personal property (they weren’t), the documents were in a secure location (they weren’t) … and so on.

and the Archives and the DOJ still aren’t convinced that Trump has returned everything he took.

so there you have it. one of these stories is definitely not like the other