Mishandled Classified Documents Scandal Plague Biden, Trump, Pence

The Biden White House continues to work to limit the political and legal fallout from classified documents dating from his time as vice president found at the Penn Biden Center as well as his personal residence.

Biden’s lawyers first alerted the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) on November 2, 2022, of classified documents found at the Penn Biden Center. NARA alerted the Department of Justice (DOJ), which began investigating the handling of the documents. CBS News reported on January 31 that the FBI searched the Penn Biden center in mid-November 2022, something the White House has not yet revealed.

On January 9, the White House revealed the released information about the document situation while trying to draw differences between Biden’s case and former President Donald Trump’s handling of classified documents after his presidency. Trump’s Florida residence Mar-a-Lago was raided by the FBI on August 8, 2022, and Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed a special counsel into Trump’s case on November 18.

Garland would do the same in Biden’s case on January 12.

More documents were reported found in Biden’s Wilmington, Delaware residence on January 11. The FBI later conducted a voluntary search of his residence, finding additional documents.

On January 24, NARA revealed that former Vice President Mike Pence also retained classified documents at his Indiana home, leading to speculation that such mishandling of documents may be widespread among high-ranking government officials.

 

Democratic, Republican National Conventions Conclude

Convention season is over as the Republicans wrapped up theirs last Thursday, culminating with a vivid firework show that lighted up the nation’s capital. Theatrics and pageantry aside, they provided the last opportunity for both parties to make their case before the debates.

The Democratic convention was a mix of live and pre-recorded speeches and video productions, and none of the speeches were done in front of a large audience. All speeches given, including the acceptance speeches by presidential nominee Joe Biden and vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris were relatively short given that they were not broken up by applause lines and other pauses used when delivering in front of an audience.

The Democrats focused on highlighting Joe Biden’s as someone of good moral character and empathy, contrasting that with their views on incumbent Donald Trump, who they argue shows little empathy and has been a failure in moral leadership as well as policy, especially in managing the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, they focused relatively little on policy specifics, offering broad support for progressive ideas on gun control, the environment, racial justice, and economic reforms.

The Republicans followed the broad outline of the Democratic convention, though nearly all speeches were delivered live in one location in Washington, DC. In addition, Trump and Mike Pence gave their acceptance speeches in front of audiences at the White House and at Fort McHenry in Baltimore respectively. The Republican Convention offered more specific policy proposals throughout their speeches, though media factcheckers criticized some of the claims made by speakers, including Trump, on the administration’s record.

Coronavirus Cases Spike Across the US, World

Worldwide coronavirus cases reached 10 million this month as governments struggle to contain the spread of the deadly virus. The resulting infections have led to at least confirmed 500,000 deaths.

In the United States, the majority of states have reported a rising number of cases, with the only region spared from the uptick being the Northeast, which was most affected when the outbreak started in March and April. Texas, Florida, and Arizona have seen a large jump in cases, prompting state and local leaders to reinstitute certain control measures, such as closing bars, mandating mask wearing, and issuing stay-at-home orders.

Around one quarter of confirmed deaths worldwide have occurred in the United States, whose death toll currently stands at around 125,000. The worldwide number of deaths is likely higher than 500,000 because of underreporting and the suspiciously low numbers reported by the Chinese government, especially given China’s role as the epicenter of the outbreak.

Vice President Mike Pence has announced support for wearing masks in a recent interview with CBS News, though President Donald Trump himself has been ambivalent about encouraging masks and has not encouraged mask wearing mandates. Wearing surgical and cloth masks can reduce the spread of the virus to others if the wearer is sick, but has not been shown to offer significant protection to the wearer. The US government has encouraged protective N95 standard masks to be used only by health care professionals and other emergency responders. Notably, US health officials discouraged the purchase of N95 masks by individuals at the beginning of the outbreak, misrepresenting their effectiveness to the public, in an attempt to preserve them for health care workers.

Impeachment Inquiry Testimonies Begin

This month saw the first public testimonies from officials involved in the controversy over President Trump’s phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky earlier this year, with House Democrats hoping to implicate President Trump in an alleged attempt to pressure the Ukrainian government to investigate Hunter Biden, Joe Biden’s son, in exchange for foreign aid. The alleged request by Trump was to look into Biden’s involvement in a Ukrainian oil company during his father’s vice presidency and the dismissal of a prosecutor supposedly investigating the company. While Hunter Biden had no previous experience in oil and gas, no wrongdoing by Biden has yet been uncovered, and the dismissal of the prosecutor has been linked to the prosecutor’s own previous corruption.

Trump has denied any wrongdoing in making the call, dismissing claims of a quid pro quo in which American aid would only be released if the investigation into Biden’s conduct began. While the foreign aid did go through, it may have only gone through after a complaint was filed by a whistleblower documenting concerns with Trump’s request. It does not prove, however, that the aid would not have been delivered otherwise.

Most witnesses, including former acting Ukrainian Ambassador Bill Taylor, have said that they received the impression that a quid pro quo existed, though they based that on information from second-hand sources, not from the president himself. US Ambassador to the EU, Gordon Sondland, said that members of the Trump cabinet knew about the request, including Vice President Mike Pence and acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney.