The FBI wore actual gloves when handling Joe Biden’s classified documents, organizing them with visible care and keeping them neatly contained. Meanwhile, agents dumped Donald Trump’s papers across the floor at Mar-a-Lago for cameras to capture.
That’s the damning contrast revealed in more than 70 newly released FBI photographs obtained exclusively by The Federalist through litigation brought by the Oversight Project. The images show how federal agents treated the 46th president with extraordinary deference compared to the raid-and-rifle approach they took at Trump’s Florida estate.
“Two completely different postures,” the Oversight Project said in a statement. “One designed to protect a reputation, the other to destroy one.”
The photos document what Biden was hoarding at the Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement in Washington, D.C., and at his Wilmington, Delaware residence. Files bore labels like “Iraq/Syria ’14,” “Foreign Policy,” “Obama Doctrine,” and “Schumer DACA.” Other folders contained “Gmail Backup Codes” and “J.R.B. Facebook” files.
Some materials appeared connected to Mark Zwonitzer, the ghostwriter behind Biden’s books “Promise Me, Dad” and “New Beginnings.” Interviews between Zwonitzer and Biden became central to Special Prosecutor Robert Hur’s investigation into the former president’s mishandling of classified records. Hur famously declined to charge Biden, describing him as a “sympathetic, well-meaning elderly man” whose memory problems would make prosecution difficult. Trump, by contrast, faced 40 federal charges in what critics have called a political witch hunt.
The government fought for years to keep these photos hidden from public view, just as it battled to suppress audio recordings of Biden discussing classified records with his ghostwriter. The Oversight Project won release of those tapes through extended litigation.
The photographs show agents organizing documents with care, wearing protective gloves, keeping materials contained and undisturbed. Some images are partially or completely redacted, but many clearly display the files Biden stored in boxes and a drawer at his home.
The contrast with Mar-a-Lago could not be starker. Images of Trump’s documents scattered across the floor were leaked and “blasted across every front page within days, priming the public to see Trump as guilty before a single charge was filed,” according to the Oversight Project.
As FBI agents reportedly warned the Biden Department of Justice that they lacked probable cause for a search warrant at Trump’s residence, Assistant Attorney General George Toscas allegedly dismissed their concerns.
The two-tiered system of justice has been laid bare. One president gets the raid treatment, his documents staged for maximum media impact. The other gets the white-glove service, his files kept neat and orderly, the photos locked away for years.
