Document-gate: What did the president know?

We like to investigate presidential misbehavior. What did the president know and when did he know it?

How complicit was Richard Nixon in the Watergate scandal? Did Ronald Reagan know that money from arms sales to Iran was being funneled to right-wing rebels in Nicaragua? Was Bill Clinton only a passive investor in the Whitewater real estate scandal? Did Donald Trump conspire with Russia in 2016 to get elected president?

The recent discovery of classified documents from President Biden’s term as vice president at two locations raises comparisons with former President Trump’s handling of classified documents after his presidency. The two cases both relate to a president, to classified documents and to the appointment of special counsels. Beyond that, nothing else is similar.

Based on the facts we know now, there are significant differences between the Biden and Trump classified document scandals.

First, the number of documents is vastly different. Trump had more than 300 classified documents in his possession while early indications are that Biden had perhaps 20 documents.

Second, the level of cooperation between each man and the National Archives has been different. Trump stalled for months and refused to turn over all the documents, prompting the FBI to obtain a court-ordered search warrant of the former president’s residence at Mar-a-Lago that yielded still additional classified documents and others that were considered presidential records. Trump has filed lawsuits to delay and impede the investigation.

Biden’s attorneys, on the other hand, after they discovered the documents, turned them over to the National Archives the next day and have been fully cooperating with authorities.

Finally, there is the all-important issue of intent. Were the documents deliberately mishandled in violation of laws or was the management of the documents simply sloppy?

The special counsels appointed by the Department of Justice will investigate the facts, assess the scope of potential violations and determine intent. Finally, the special counsels will separately decide whether to recommend either Biden or Trump be charged with criminal misconduct related to the document in their possession.

Trump and Biden face different legal exposure with the former president at much greater risk based on the known facts, especially related to intent. It has been reported that Trump claimed the documents were his, not the government’s and that he knowingly hoarded and kept the documents. Each special counsel should follow the facts associated with the case they are investigating regardless of the circumstances of the other case.

Politically, both Biden and Trump are at risk. The appearance of classified documents at two Biden locations is a particular political risk for the president, especially as he presumably prepares to announce a bid for a second term.

Republicans who downplayed the severity of Trump’s possession of classified documents are now sudden converts to the importance of maintaining appropriate control of top-secret material. A House committee is planning to launch an investigation into Biden’s mishandling of classified documents, while they turned a blind eye to Trump’s possession of presidential records including classified materials.

Politics should have no role when it comes to handling the nation’s top-secret documents. Regardless of one’s political persuasions, all Americans — Democrats, Republicans and independents — should be equally concerned that the nation’s classified documents are handled appropriately. This should not be a party issue, but an American issue. We should be consistent in how we apply standards for managing classified material to both parties and any president.

Attorney General Merrick Garland made appropriate decisions by appointing special counsels to investigate the handling of classified materials for both Trump and Biden. He was also wise to appoint a respected conservative, Robert Hur, who was appointed by Trump as U.S. attorney in Maryland in 2018, as the special counsel to investigate Biden’s handling of classified material. Americans should want nothing but the facts, regardless of the consequences.

In the meantime, while the investigations are underway, all Americans — including and especially Congress — should tone down the rhetoric, be patient and wait for the results to be presented.

If there’s a lesson learned from these two cases, perhaps it’s that we need additional structure for how presidential records are managed, accounted for and transferred at the end of an administration to the National Archives. Certainly, there will always be mistakes, but these cases have pointed out that more efforts are necessary to prevent intentional or accidental mishandling of classified documents.

Mike Purdy is a presidential historian, the author of the “Presidential Friendships: How They Changed History,” and the founder of PresidentialHistory.com.