A new survey has found that Americans are equally concerned about classified documents found in possession of President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump, even though the current and former presidents have handled their situations differently.
A poll released by NBC News on Sunday says 67{bb67dc8068aeb19f357bd521b023405218769edfdf2fbe8fd5046748dc5a5bcb} of respondents said they find the discovery of the Biden documents either very concerning or somewhat concerning while an identical 67{bb67dc8068aeb19f357bd521b023405218769edfdf2fbe8fd5046748dc5a5bcb} held the same views about the discovery of the Trump documents.
More than a dozen classified documents have been found at Biden’s residence and private office, while over 300 classified documents were recovered from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence.
Biden and his lawyers say they have so far cooperated with the Justice Department and allowed authorities to search his Wilmington, Delaware home, where six additional classified documents were found.
Trump, however, resisted handing over the documents despite repeated requests from the National Archives and a subpoena, leading a judge to issue a warrant authorizing the FBI to search Mar-a-Lago.
According to the survey, 50{bb67dc8068aeb19f357bd521b023405218769edfdf2fbe8fd5046748dc5a5bcb} of respondents disapprove of Biden’s job performance compared to 45{bb67dc8068aeb19f357bd521b023405218769edfdf2fbe8fd5046748dc5a5bcb} who approve.
The survey also found that Americans are also concerned that the handling of classified documents by Biden is consuming Republican members of Congress.
Fifty-five percent of respondents said they believe House Republicans spend too much time investigating Biden rather than focusing on other priorities.
Fifty-four percent of respondents said they believe Republicans will be too inflexible in their investigations.
In the wake of the discovery of the documents in both Biden’s and Trump’s possession, the Justice Department told the Senate Intelligence Committee that it was “actively working” to brief lawmakers about the potential risks to national security.
Assistant Attorney General Carlos Uriarte wrote in a letter to a number of senators that “prosecutors on both matters are actively working to enable sharing information with the Committee.”
Both Republican and Democratic senators, however, voiced frustration after they left a closed-door briefing last week with National Intelligence Director Avril Haines, who declined to show them copies of the classified documents.
