How important are those classified documents recovered from Biden's office?

 So that was not good.  Joe Biden's attorneys found some classified documents from his time as VP sitting around in one of his offices.  In a word, "oops."  Or in two words, "oh, fuck."  How big is this?  Right now, we do not know, but take a step back, lefties and Democrats, and do a head check.

The furor over Donald Trump stealing, concealing and withholding documents was partly a function of historical comparison.  The processes for managing executive and classified documents are quite strict, and when documents are mishandled, that needs to be reported immediately.  When it is not, it is a serious crime, and Donald Trump either is or should be facing serious legal jeopardy because what he did was not only take documents, but probably do so willfully, and then withhold them and lie about them to not only the National Archives, but the FBI.

In contrast, if any federal employee takes home a document, notices, and fails to report it immediately, that federal employee, if not named "Donald Trump," would be charged immediately.

So consider Joe Biden.  Yes, there needs to be a thorough investigation.  I am inclined to call for a special counsel, all things considered.

Does it look as bad as Donald Trump?  Not even close, though.  There are three dimensions along which Donald Trump's actions were more egregious, and more likely criminal.  

Dimension 1.  Trump probably personally ordered the documents to be taken.  This is part of what is being investigated, but we have no knowledge of how the documents wound up in Biden's office.  Yet, we should be skeptical that Biden personally ordered the documents to be taken.

So two things.  First, we need an investigation.  However, second, it was Biden's attorneys who found the documents, and handed them over without having been asked, because the National Archives did not know about the documents.  In the case of Donald Trump, the Archives discovered that documents were missing, and Trump did everything possible to resist handing them over, including lying about where they were, hence the search warrant.  That difference suggests strongly that Trump personally wanted the documents, and Biden wound up with them perhaps by accident.  However, both require investigations.

Yes, investigate Biden, but it looks much more like Biden had the documents by accident.

Dimension 2.  In the case of Trump, it was the Archives who started the process, whereas in the case of Biden, it was his own attorneys volunteering the documents.  One looks far more innocent, and in terms of comparisons to previous cases, and who does and does not get prosecuted, if you discover documents that you took accidentally, and then do the right thing, you get treated very differently from if they have to come to you.

Dimension 3.  Obstruction of justice.  Even given that the Archives had to go to Trump before Trump coughed up any documents, all of the lies and games almost certainly constitute the crime of obstruction of justice.  There is no such crime when you find the documents yourself before the feds know they are missing, because someone in your orbit, possibly even you, took them by accident, but you then volunteer them.

Did Biden commit a crime?

Maybe.  Investigate him.  If Jim Jordan decides to hold hearings on this, could he run a fact-based investigation with a legitimate process?  In theory, keeping in mind that he is batshit.  But yes, investigate the President's ass.  This is serious.  You thought so when Trump did something similar, and it is still serious.  This is not nearly as bad as what Trump did, but it is bad.  You don't get to change your mind now.

Yet.

This does have implications for the potential prosecution of Trump.  Any potential prosecution of Trump would rely on convincing a jury to convict.  The clarity of the crime, compared to January 6, made the Mar-a-Lago Papers a more likely route to conviction because "even a Republican" might potentially vote to convict.  Plain facts.  What this does is provide an "out" to those Republican potential jurors.  A way to say, yeah, but Joe Biden did it too.  Once that enters the political airspace, votes to convict Donald Trump, by any Republican juror, vanish.

Is this comparable to Trump?  No.  It is serious, and should be investigated, but no.  It is the difference between punching someone in the face, and homicide.  Both are violent crimes, but one is far worse.  Yet by giving Republicans an excuse to acquit-- flimsy though it may be-- this story virtually guarantees that Donald Trump cannot be convicted.

Donald Trump just got away with it.