Joe Biden Classified Documents Report Is a Huge Win for Donald Trump

The expected upcoming release of the report into President Joe Biden's handling of classified documents will be beneficial to Donald Trump no matter what the findings, a political expert has said.

Special Counsel Robert Hur could release his findings into Biden's handling of sensitive materials as soon as this week, with the White House said to be concerned they could be potentially embarrassing for the president heading into the 2024 election.

While Hur is not expecting to recommend a criminal case be launched after Obama-era classified documents were discovered at Biden's private residence in Delaware and former office at the Penn Biden Center in Washington, D.C., Biden's aides have expressed concern Hur's report could include damaging photos which showed how Biden stored classified documents, Axios reported.

Ever since Hur was appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland to look into Biden's handling of classified documents last January, Trump has frequently asked why the president is not also facing criminal charges while he has been charged with 40 federal offenses under Special Counsel Jack Smith's classified documents probe.

Grant Reeher, a professor of political science at Syracuse University's Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, said that even if Hur's report does not allege any criminal wrongdoing, Biden's team is "rightfully concerned" about the political damage that this report could do, especially if it contains potentially embarrassing photos.

"One of Trump's recurring lines of defense is the assertion of equivalencies, and this will no doubt play into that as Trump continues to deal with his legal issues," Reeher told Newsweek.

"I would even imagine some narrative to the effect that, if this is what Biden's own Justice Department produces and concludes, just imagine how bad it really is."

One of the biggest differences between Biden and Trump's handling of classified documents is that Biden is not accused of attempting to obstruct the federal attempt to retrieve the sensitive materials, and immediately handed all documents back to the government upon their discovery.

Two of Trump's co-defendants in the federal classified documents case, Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira, are also accused of helping the former president move boxes of classified documents around Mar-a-Lago before the FBI came to retrieve them and of conspiring to delete security footage which had been subpoenaed by federal prosecutors.

However, if Hur's report contains "bad optics" for Biden, such as photos of classified documents stored in his Wilmington garage next to his Corvette, Reeher suggests the general public will view it in the same manner as when photos of Mar-a-Lago were released by the Department of Justice showing Trump kept boxes of classified materials in bathrooms and other easily accessible areas of his Florida home.

"Voters not paying close attention to the details of the cases—which is most of them—are likely to simply conclude that both candidates have problems in this area, and that will help Trump's likely claims of equivalency," Reeher said.

"The one silver lining for Biden is that if the report is damaging, it does counter to some extent Trump's charges that the cases against him are just political. But in order to make that point, Biden's team will have to draw attention to the special counsel's report, which, of course, they won't want to do," Reeher added.

"So the silver lining I'm describing is rather hollow in the end."

Newsweek reached out to the White House for comment. The DOJ previously declined to comment on reports Hur's report could be released in the coming days.

Several news outlets, including The Washington Post, reported that Hur will not be recommending any criminal charges for Biden or his aides when the special counsel's report is released.

The White House previously confirmed the president was interviewed by Hur's team as part of the classified documents inquiry in October 2023.