Quote (Black XistenZ @ Jan 16 2023 04:56pm)
Biden had classified documents that he stored in a larger variety of places than Trump, places which were significantly less secured. He did this for a significantly longer period of time than Trump (6+ years) and has far less of an argument in his defense regarding authority to declassify. Trump resisted handing out some of these documents and most definitely didn't adhere to the proper declassification process.
From a purely technical, legal point of view, Trump's mishandling of classified documents might be worse because it touches on obstruction of justice. However, from a moral point of view, the two cases aren't much different, the differences roughly cancel each other out. After the Mar-a-Lago raid, Biden gleefully commented on how irresponsible it is to possess or mishandle classified documents - and now, he has irrefutably been outed as a hypocrite.
We're working with the facts we know. Assuming those facts, it's true Biden had classified documents in more places than Trump did(the FBI hasn't searched other Trump properties and there's no reason to believe Trump's lawyers would search and reveal any classified documents, so I'm skeptical of that talking point), and they were arguably less secure(although that argument doesn't go very far), but the legal argument for indicting Trump pretty much landed on facts outside of him holding classified documents without authorization. You can argue he was president, and presidents can declassify anything. The problem is that there's zero evidence he ever declassified any of the documents that he held. We could venture into the space of "I declassified in my mind" but that argument doesn't seem to hold merit in minds outside the Trump cult.
The potential indictment hinges on the obstruction aspect. Which, so far, appears to be different from how Biden handled this.
The short story, based on the evidence so far, is that Biden took some classified documents with him, and gave them back when revealed. Trump stole classified documents, and refused to return them when asked by the government.
What Biden did is bad. What Trump did is criminal.