As news breaks of President Biden’s having kept classified documents — which we all know he takes very seriously — in his garage, I am reminded of this Washington Post report from December.
At the time, the Post was making the argument that Donald Trump had to be sent to prison. In support, it did a news article that gathered recent cases involving former government officials and contractors who had been convicted and received significant sentences for hoarding classified documents in violation of the rules that require them to be kept securely in government facilities. The report focused in particular on Kendra Kingsbury, a former FBI analyst who is looking at the prospect of ten years’ imprisonment upon being convicted. The Post included this revealing bit regarding the Justice Department’s position on the offense:
A lead prosecutor in that case — David Raskin, an experienced Justice Department national security attorney — was subsequently tapped by Attorney General Merrick Garland to assist in the Trump document investigation.
“Kingsbury knew that her personal residence was not an authorized location for such storage and having unauthorized possession of these 20 documents relating to national defense,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick C. Edwards, one of Raskin’s colleagues, said at a hearing in that case, according to a court transcript. “She willfully retained the documents and failed to deliver them to an officer or employee of the United States entitled to receive them.”
Certainly the Justice Department is going to apply to President Biden the same standard it applied to Kendra Kingsbury, and the same standard the Post wanted applied to Donald Trump, right?
Or . . . why do I suspect Biden will get the Hillary Clinton whitewash treatment, and that Trump — to the Post’s chagrin — may now also have to get that treatment so that the Biden Justice Department can rationalize giving it to Biden?