Classified documents dating back to President Joe Biden’s time as vice president were found in his private office, Biden’s attorneys acknowledged Monday, reported CNN.
Attorney General Merrick Garland asked the U.S. attorney in Chicago, John Lausch Jr., to investigate, according to reporting by CNN.
“The White House is cooperating with the National Archives and the Department of Justice regarding the discovery of what appear to be Obama-Biden Administration records, including a small number of documents with classified markings,” Richard Sauber, special counsel to President Biden, said in a statement to CNN.
“The documents were discovered when the President’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 continued.
“The President periodically used this space from mid-2017 until the start of the 2020 campaign. On the day of this discovery, November 2, 2022, the White House Counsel’s Office notified the National Archives. The Archives took possession of the materials the following morning.”
The documents were discovered just prior to the elections last November when 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.
CBS first reported news of the classified documents.
According to CNN, some of the documents were top-secret files with the SCI designation or “sensitive compartmented information,” which refers to highly sensitive information gathered by intelligence sources.
CNN reported that fewer than a dozen of these classified documents were discovered in the office.
“The discovery of these documents was made by the President’s attorneys,” Sauber said.
“The documents were not the subject of any previous request or inquiry by the Archives. Since that discovery, the President’s personal attorneys have cooperated with the Archives and the Department of Justice in a process to ensure that any Obama-Biden Administration records are appropriately in the possession of the Archives.”
This episode bears a striking resemblance to the Mar-a-Lago affair when classified documents were found in former President Donald Trump’s Florida home.
Biden himself criticized Trump harshly for the incident.
“How that could possibly happen? How one – anyone could be that irresponsible?” Biden asked in September. “And I thought what data was in there that may compromise sources and methods? By that, I mean names of people who helped or, et cetera. … totally irresponsible.”
The response from Biden’s political opponents has been swift.
“President Biden has been very critical of President Trump mistakenly taking classified documents to the residence or wherever and now it seems he may have done the same,” said Republican Rep. James Comer of Kentucky, who is about to become the House Oversight Chairman. “How ironic.”
Comer mentioned that when bringing up questions to the National Archives regarding Trump’s classified documents, they referred him and other Republicans to the Justice Department.
“Maybe they’ll answer our questions now because it pertains to two presidents,” Comer said, noting he will ask additional questions to the National Archives later this week.
“I just think it goes to prove what they tried to do to President Trump overplayed their hand on that,” newly elected House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said.
“They’ve been around even longer,” McCarthy said regarding Biden’s team. “President Trump had never been in office before and had just left, came out. Here’s an individual [who] spent his last 40 years in office.”
“It just shows that they were trying to be political with President Trump,” said McCarthy.
Former president Donald Trump was quick to post on social media, “When is the FBI going to raid the many homes of Joe Biden, perhaps even the White House? These documents were definitely not declassified.”
Biden’s attorneys claim they notified the National Archives as soon as the documents were discovered and turned over any classified materials.
