The White House was in rare crisis mode last week as it emerged that lawyers for the president had found classified material at his thinktank in Washington DC and home in Delaware. At an unusually contentious press briefing, one TV correspondent dubbed the affair "garage-gate".
The justice department appointed a special counsel to investigate Biden's handling of classified documents from his time as vice-president. It was a rare setback for an administration that promised to be transparent and scandal-free. It also complicated an investigation into Trump over an ostensibly similar matter.
Another special counsel is already examining the former president's retention of top secret papers at Mara-Lago, his Florida estate and club. Although the situations are different, the nuances and subtleties are likely to be lost in the court of public opinion.
"This may be pure sloppiness on Biden's part or the Biden team's part but it doesn't matter," said Larry Sabato, the director of the University of Virginia's Center for Politics. "In the public mind, now they will say, 'Well, a pox on both your houses. You're both guilty. Shame on you both.""
This story is from the January 20, 2023 edition of The Guardian Weekly.
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This story is from the January 20, 2023 edition of The Guardian Weekly.
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