Why are we only now finding out about Biden's improper retention of documents?

News that Joe Biden kept classified documents in a safe at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement after he left the vice presidency will cause folks on both sides of the political divide to discuss, from partisan perspectives, the similarities and differences between Biden’s conduct and that of Donald Trump, who took documents to Mar-a-Lago and kept them there after his term expired.

Some differences may cut in Trump’s favor. There is no argument that Biden, as vice president, had the power to declassify documents. As president, Trump had that power (though I doubt he used it in this case).

Other differences may cut in Biden’s favor. The most important one is that in Trump’s case, the Archives requested that he return the documents he took, and at some point Trump said he complied, though he hadn’t. I’ve seen no indication that Biden made a similar false certification.

Even so, and Trump’s possible vulnerability to obstruction of justice charges notwithstanding, I agree with the emerging view that Biden’s misconduct significantly complicates prosecuting Trump for retaining documents.

Meanwhile, Erick Erickson focuses attention on a different point. The documents were discovered by a Team Biden lawyer shortly before the 2022 midterm elections. Yet, only now has the public learned about this:

The material was identified by personal attorneys for Mr. Biden on Nov. 2, just before the midterm elections, Richard Sauber, special counsel to the president confirmed. The documents were discovered when Mr. Biden's personal attorneys "were packing files housed in a locked closet to prepare to vacate office space at the Penn Biden Center in Washington, D.C.,"

Sauber said in a statement to CBS News. The documents were contained in a folder that was in a box with other unclassified papers, the sources said. The sources revealed neither what the documents contain nor their level of classification. A source familiar with the matter told CBS News the documents did not contain nuclear secrets. 

Given how much was being made of Trump’s improper retention of documents, the administration had plenty of incentive to make sure word of Biden’s improper retention did not reach the public before the election. Reportedly, the White House team immediately informed the Archives about Biden’s improper retention of the documents. But the public remained in the dark.

Why? Maybe we’ll hear an honest and innocent answer to that question. Otherwise, this seems like something the House should consider investigating.