Amna Nawaz: One item House Republicans are adding to their list of priorities, investigating a small number of potentially classified documents discovered at a private office that President Biden used after he was vice president. Intelligence Committee Chair Mike Turner wrote to the director of national intelligence today and called for a damage assessment into the documents and — quote — "potential violation of laws."
To help us understand what this means, I'm joined by Mark Zaid, an attorney who focuses on national security issues.
Mark, welcome back.
There's a number of questions here. I want to begin, though, with the timeline. We know, according to the White House, Biden's personal attorney found the documents while packing up and moving these files. They immediately notified the National Archives, handed them over the next day. This was all back in November.
Should they have disclosed this back in November, when it happened?
Mark Zaid, National Security Attorney: Well, there was no legal requirement for them to have done so, just, as with Trump Mar-a-Lago, we, the public, didn't know about the situation there for quite an extensive amount of time, until someone in both cases basically leaked the information to the media to run a story. One could possibly argue that perhaps the Oversight Committees in Congress should have been notified in both instances, but I don't think that happened with either case. But, overall, no, it's not that surprising.
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Amna Nawaz: Mark Zaid, when you look at what happened with former President Trump and what's unfolding now, are the two circumstances comparable?
Mark Zaid: Other than from the very, very beginning, when there was the disclosure or finding of classified information, and, even then, it's really different, because
the U.S. government had to go after President Trump, rather than the U.S. government being notified by President Biden's lawyers and the National Archives of this fact of what happened.
They're incredibly different. Now look, as a legal matter, any time there's classified information that is found that should not be where it is, that's significant. And, apparently, there was some very sensitive information in this, and there will be a very serious investigation by a former Trump — by a Trump-appointed U.S. attorney, one of only two who remains, to look into this.
And, apparently, by press reports, that's almost finished. But the circumstances are so completely different. Immediately, as you mentioned, President Biden's lawyers notified the White House, who notified the National Archives, who retrieved the documents right away.
Now, we will see where the facts lead. But in the Mar-a-Lago case, there was a repeated effort for almost a year-and-a-half to get Donald Trump to turn over those documents. And it was only after multiple attempts to retrieve them and the execution of a search warrant because there were lies that were stated to the administration to recover this.
And now there's factual evidence that Donald Trump himself was hiding and obstructing the investigation. Very, very different facts, at least from what we know as of now.
Amna Nawaz: Do you agree there needs to be some kind of damage assessment, as Congressman Turner has suggested?
Mark Zaid: Yes, that, absolutely. And that would be common.
Now, and I will say it is very common that mishandling of classified information occurs, unfortunately. Individuals mistakenly take home documents for work, or they retire, and they pack up their office, and then, five years later, they find them in their garage or attic. And, mostly, this is always handled administratively.
It is really rare where some criminal penalty happens, if there's not actual espionage or egregious hoarding of classified information. But there always should be a damage assessment. We have to see, who accessed these files? How did they get there? Were they kept in that locked closet, apparently? But did anyone, as I say, get access to them?
So that would be common, and I would expect the House and Senate Intelligence Committees will receive a damage assessment at some point, particularly after the U.S. attorney finishes his investigation.
Amna Nawaz: Mark, in just the minute or so we have left, there is that ongoing DOJ probe, a special counsel appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland to look into Mr. Trump's handling of those documents.
Does this revelation about the Biden documents have any potential impact on that investigation?
Mark Zaid: Legally, it should not. Politically is a completely different creature.
As you have seen by the clips that you aired, this is and has been seized by the Republicans and will continue to be. And what concerns me the most is that, frankly, the average American is not probably going to be able to understand the difference between the two cases. They will think President Biden, classified records at his office, President Trump, classified records at his home.
But the reality is, these cases are so vastly different.
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/what- ... mer-office