Classified documents from Joe Biden's vice-presidential days were discovered in November by the US president's personal attorneys at a Washington think-tank, a White House lawyer said on Monday.
Nearly 10 documents were found at Biden's office at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement, CBS News reported, adding that US attorney-general Merrick Garland asked the US attorney in Chicago to review the documents which were handed over to the National Archives.
The classified material was identified by personal attorneys for Biden on November 2, days before the midterm elections, Richard Sauber, special counsel to the president, said on Monday.
Biden periodically used that office from mid-2017 until the start of his 2020 presidential campaign. The White House Counsel's Office notified the National Archives the day the documents were discovered, Sauber said, adding that the latter took possession of them the next morning.
Sauber said the documents were not the subject of any previous request or inquiry by the National Archives.
They were found 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, DC,” Sauber said. He added that the White House was co-operating with the justice department and the National Archives which, with the think-tank, did not respond to a request for comment.
Biden was vice-president under Barack Obama from 2009 to 2017.
Sauber's statement did not mention the number of classified documents, what they contained or their level of classification. CBS News reported that they did not contain nuclear secrets.
Representative Jamie Raskin, the top Democrat on the House of Representatives oversight committee, said Biden's attorneys “appear to have taken immediate and proper action” after finding the documents. He added that he was confident Garland will “make an impartial decision about any further action that may be needed”.
The justice department is separately probing former president Donald Trump's handling of highly sensitive classified documents that he retained at his Florida resort after leaving the White House in January 2021. FBI agents carried out a court-approved search on August 8 of Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate. About 100 classified documents were among thousands of records seized.
“When is the FBI going to raid the many homes of Joe Biden, perhaps even the White House? These documents were definitely not declassified,” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform late on Monday.
Reuters
Classified documents from Joe Biden's vice-presidency found at think-tank
Image: Al Drago/Bloomberg
Classified documents from Joe Biden's vice-presidential days were discovered in November by the US president's personal attorneys at a Washington think-tank, a White House lawyer said on Monday.
Nearly 10 documents were found at Biden's office at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement, CBS News reported, adding that US attorney-general Merrick Garland asked the US attorney in Chicago to review the documents which were handed over to the National Archives.
The classified material was identified by personal attorneys for Biden on November 2, days before the midterm elections, Richard Sauber, special counsel to the president, said on Monday.
Biden periodically used that office from mid-2017 until the start of his 2020 presidential campaign. The White House Counsel's Office notified the National Archives the day the documents were discovered, Sauber said, adding that the latter took possession of them the next morning.
Sauber said the documents were not the subject of any previous request or inquiry by the National Archives.
They were found 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, DC,” Sauber said. He added that the White House was co-operating with the justice department and the National Archives which, with the think-tank, did not respond to a request for comment.
Biden was vice-president under Barack Obama from 2009 to 2017.
Sauber's statement did not mention the number of classified documents, what they contained or their level of classification. CBS News reported that they did not contain nuclear secrets.
Representative Jamie Raskin, the top Democrat on the House of Representatives oversight committee, said Biden's attorneys “appear to have taken immediate and proper action” after finding the documents. He added that he was confident Garland will “make an impartial decision about any further action that may be needed”.
The justice department is separately probing former president Donald Trump's handling of highly sensitive classified documents that he retained at his Florida resort after leaving the White House in January 2021. FBI agents carried out a court-approved search on August 8 of Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate. About 100 classified documents were among thousands of records seized.
“When is the FBI going to raid the many homes of Joe Biden, perhaps even the White House? These documents were definitely not declassified,” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform late on Monday.
Reuters
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