Why Biden ghostwriter wasn’t charged in classified document scandal while Trump allies were
Confidants of both President Biden and former President Donald Trump deleted or tried to delete evidence pertinent to both men’s hoarding of sensitive national security information, federal investigators say.
But while Biden’s ghostwriter, Mark Zwonitzer, will not face criminal charges, two Trump employees stand accused along with the former president.
Special Counsel Robert Hur’s Thursday report, in which he concluded Biden, 81, “willfully retained and disclosed classified materials,” also revealed that Zwonitzer expunged audio of the commander-in-chef that had “significant evidentiary value.”
Zwonitzer made the recordings while talking to Biden to gather material for the now-president’s 2017 memoir “Promise Me, Dad,” the second collaboration between the ghostwriter and the chief executive.
The 61-year-old told investigators he “was aware that there was an investigation” at the time he scrubbed the material, and replied, “I’m not going to say how much of the percentage it was of my motivation.”
“When asked whether he deleted the recordings to try and prevent investigators from obtaining them, Zwonitzer said that he did not,” the report explained, noting that the author claimed he didn’t think investigators would approach him for information.
Authorities later subpoenaed Zwonitzer and only at that point, he told investigators, “when I realized that I still had audio that I did not know I had on the laptop, I made sure to preserve that for this investigation.”
“Our investigation…did not uncover any evidence that Zwonitzer had been in contact with anyone about his decision to delete the recordings,” said the report, which added that FBI investigators were later able to recover the deleted audio “though portions of a few of the files appear to be missing.”
Joe Biden's classified documents probe report
- Special counsel Robert Hur determined that President Biden “willfully retained and disclosed classified materials” after leaving office as vice president in 2016.
- The records kept by Biden included documents on military and foreign policy in Afghanistan as well as other national security and foreign policy issues.
- Biden kept the classified documents in part to assist with the writing of his memoirs. According to the report, Biden told a ghostwriter in a 2017 conversation that he had “just found all the classified stuff downstairs.”
- Despite the findings, Hur’s 388-page report recommended that the president not face charges.
- The special counsel noted that Biden would likely present himself to a jury as a “sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory” if he were to face trial.
Investigators also revealed that Zwonitzer “kept, and did not delete or attempt to delete, his near-verbatim transcripts of the recordings and produced those transcripts to us, including for each of the incomplete recovered files.
“In the end, prosecutors considered charging Zwonitzer with obstruction of justice, but opted against it, saying, ‘We believe the evidence would be insufficient to obtain a conviction.'”
Trump’s employees
By contrast, special counsel Jack Smith ended up slapping charges against two associates of Trump pertaining to their role in allegedly attempting to delete security camera footage at Mar-a-Lago after the Justice Department signaled it wanted to see it.
On June 23, 2022, one day after prosecutors emailed a Trump business attorney about a draft subpoena for surveillance footage, the former president held a roughly 24-minute call with maintenance worker Carlos De Oliveira, according to the indictment.
Two days later, De Oliveira and Trump’s valet, Walt Nauta, “walked with a flashlight … observed and pointed out surveillance cameras.” The following Monday, Oliveira allegedly told an employee that “the boss” wanted the server deleted.
Ultimately, the indictment did not claim that the surveillance footage was actually destroyed. Trump has denied ordering its destruction.
De Oliveira was charged with four counts, including conspiring to obstruct justice, making false statements, and concealing an object.
Nauta got hit with six counts, including charges related to the alleged concealment and obstruction of justice.
Hur weighs in on the Trump case
Looming over Hur’s reports are the optics of the DOJ charging one president for hoarding national security documents and not the other, an especially severe contrast given Trump and Biden are expected to square off in the general election Nov. 5.
Hur briefly addressed some of those concerns in his 388-page report.
“With one exception, there is no record of the Department of Justice prosecuting a former president or vice president for mishandling classified documents from his own administration. The exception is former President Trump,” it said.
While underscoring that “it’s not our role” to assess the Trump situation, Hur drew attention to a few key distinctions with Biden.
“Most notably, after being given multiple chances to return classified documents and avoid prosecution, Mr. Trump allegedly did the opposite,” Hur’s team wrote. “He also obstructed justice by enlisting others to destroy evidence and then to lie about it.”
One of Trump’s past political rivals, Hillary Clinton, similarly came under scrutiny after a server with thousands of her emails was deleted shortly after the since-defunct House Select Committee on Benghazi issued a subpoena for it back in 2015.
In that instance, a Clinton aide had pushed for the deletion months prior. The FBI also “found no evidence that any of the additional work-related emails were intentionally deleted in an effort to conceal them.”
Trump is facing 40 criminal counts related to the Mar-a-Lago classified document ordeal. He has denied wrongdoing and pleaded not guilty to all of them.
