'Music' to a prosecutor: Ex-FBI official notes 'distinguishing characteristic' in Trump docs case
Former Department of Justice official and special counsel Robert Hur on Thursday announced President Joe Biden will not face charges over his handling of classified documents, according to NBC, noting that the president "willfully retained and disclosed classified materials after his vice presidency when he was a private citizen," but Hur's findings do "not establish Mr. Biden's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt."
MSNBC legal analyst Lisa Rubin and former prosecutor and FBI official Chuck Rosenberg spoke with MSNBC's Katy Tur about the "distinguishable" differences between Biden's classified documents case and former President Donald Trump's ongoing Mar-a-Lago documents case.
"Robert Hur makes a distinction, and specifically makes a distinction between what he found President Biden to have done and what he says President Trump is being accused of," Tur noted, asking Rubin, "What is that distinction?"
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The legal analyst replied, "I think the distinction has to do with the level of cooperation he gave to the Department of Justice and the FBI, the interest that he had in voluntarily searching other properties beyond where it was initially found, and as a part of that cooperation, but also there was no willful retention after this was called to his attention. So it may have been the case that President Biden should have known he had classified documents in his possession, or that there was classified information in the notebooks he took. But once he became aware of the problem, there was no evidence that he continued to willfully hold on to them.
Rubin continued, "That is belied by the evidence against former President Trump, who for over a year plus, Katy, engaged in a hide-and-seek with investigators from the National Archives, and then with the FBI, and the Department of Justice. To continue to obfuscate and hide and even move boxes from various places in Mar-a-Lago to play this shell game about where his 'documents' were."
Tur added, "A little bit more; the report says they found documents up to the secrecy level of 'TOP SECRET/NOFORN,' which means the documents aren't to be shared with any foreign countries. They're classified at the top secret level. They also say they found 'SCI level documents,' which are top secret documents that conclude sensitive, compartmentalized information. I know the terms are familiar to us and our viewers because we have talked about them so much regarding Donald Trump's handling of classified information. That being said, Robert Hur does write, several material distinctions with the Trump case, 'unlike the evidence involving Mr. Biden, the allegations set forth in the indictment of Mr. Trump, if proven, would present serious aggregating facts. He refused to return the documents, obstructed justice by enlisting others to destroy evidence, and then to lie about it.' I do think it is interesting, in laying out this case, Robert Hur seems to be acknowledging, even though DOJ never says they get involved in politics, he is acknowledging the political moment by distinguishing this case from the one that Donald Trump is facing."
"Well, Katy, It's distinguishable. So first, I want to say, I think Mr. Biden's mishandling of top secret information is deeply disappointing. For those of us who held security clearances when we were in the united states government, it's beyond my imagination that someone would be so careless or so reckless with this stuff. That said, I think it's important to underscore what Lisa was saying, you know, what is and what is not a double standard? Imagine Lisa and I both had top secret information in our respective homes. We both cooperated fully. We didn't obstruct justice. We turned everything over when we were asked to do so, and Lisa was prosecuted and I was not. That's a double standard."
"But if you have those distinguishing characteristics that Lisa talked about, and I would even add one more to that — Mr. Trump asking his own lawyers to make stuff disappear. When you have a series of acts that distinguish Lisa's case from mine — aggravating factors — that is, to a prosecutor, that is music, right? Because, when you obstruct justice, that evinces intent. It proves intent."
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