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#DocumentGate

Posted on by mcridde

Conversation continues this week as the nation debates #DocumentGate, the term being applied to the discovery of classified documents at the homes of former President Donald Trump and, more recently, current President Joe Biden. President Trump was the first elected official to be part of #DocumentGate when, after over a year of ignored requests for the return of missing documents, the FBI executed a search warrant at Mar-a-Lago on Aug. 8, 2022, where they discovered 13 boxes of documents labeled classified. VOA reports that the search of Trump’s property revealed “items marked as classified national security information, up to the level of Top Secret and including Sensitive Compartmented Information and Special Access Program materials”. Social media conversation about the discovery of Trump’s classified documents carried 98% negative sentiment as citizens expressed both disappointment at the former President’s mishandling of classified records as well as outrage at the FBI’s decision to raid his home. Certified Twitter accounts from celebrities responding to the scandal had the highest number of retweets, with most of those messages containing criticism of Trump’s actions.

In the month following the raid on Mar-a-Lago, the most common theme of the #DocumentGate conversation compared Trump to other elected officials accused of mishandling sensitive information. Users frequently used Hillary Clinton’s email scandal as a point of comparison, with accusations of hypocrisy circling around both the Department of Justice as well as Trump himself. Clinton served as a bipartisan foil on social media as her name was used by critics and supporters alike to make their case. 

More recently, however, President Joe Biden was also revealed to have stored classified documents in his home. The documents, dating from the Obama-Biden administration, were discovered on Nov. 2, 2022 by Biden’s own attorneys. The Biden team allegedly notified the National Archives that day and returned the documents the following day. CNN reports that “The classified materials included some top-secret files with the “sensitive compartmented information” designation, also known as SCI, which is used for highly sensitive information obtained from intelligence sources”. 

Social media conversation about #DocumentGate after the discovery of President Biden’s mishandling of information was as negative as the discussion after the Mar-a-Lago raid, with 95% of Tweets expressing negative sentiment. However, the social media debate after discovery of Biden’s documents was decidedly more driven by Republican defenders of the Trump administration. Republican representatives, rather than celebrities, received the most retweets as they compared the treatment of Biden to that of Trump and even to that of Hillary Clinton, arguing that Trump was treated unfairly.

Republican figureheads also speculated about larger conspiracies concerning Biden’s documents, with many working to connect the President’s mishandling of information to his son, Hunter Biden, who’s been accused of shady business deals and of allegedly concealing his own cache of classified documents.

One of the most popular media forms during #DocumentGate has been the infographic, gaining high numbers of retweets and exponential reach as major news outlets like CNN work to establish a clear narrative amidst debate about the severity of each Presidents’ wrongdoings. 

Readers ought to anticipate further discussion on #DocumentGate, since former Vice President Mike Pence has just this week been on the receiving end of more allegations of mishandling of classified information, with CNN reporting that the Department of Justice and FBI have launched investigations into Pence’s documents as well. Pence, for his part, plans to cooperate fully, although the sensitivity of the materials found in his home is not yet known. Thus, #DocumentGate continues, and we at the SMLC keep listening.

Author: Molly Riddell

Posted in Tracking News via Social Media Analytics