Experts and sources describe the classification process as messy and cumbersome, with far too much information needlessly marked classified. And they complain that when the handful of people at the top of the government mishandle classified information, they're treated very differently than the (literal) millions of other people with security clearances would be treated if they accidentally misplaced classified material.

"It's a ridiculous system that's not fit for purpose anymore," one State Department official told VICE News.

So, what level of clearance does this source have?

"I'm not supposed to tell you that--it's classified," they said with a laugh.

Every source VICE News talked to said that there was a clear distinction between Biden's and Pence's situations and Trump's. Biden and Pence's teams made apparently honest and minor mistakes with a handful of documents and sought to rectify them once they discovered the documents; Trump acted with willful disregard of the law, lied to the Justice Department about what he had, and attempted to keep much higher-level classified documents that seemingly contained actual state secrets at his Mar-a-Lago estate.