Darren Christopher Lyn
10 January 2023•Update: 10 January 2023
HOUSTON, US
The US attorney's office is looking into classified documents from President Joe Biden's time as vice president that were found last fall in a private office, it was announced Monday.
Attorney General Merrick Garland assigned the US attorney's office in Chicago to review nearly one dozen documents found at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement in Washington, D.C., according to CBS News. The material was identified by Biden's personal attorneys on Nov. 2. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is also involved in the inquiry.
“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,” said Richard Sauber, special counsel to Biden, in a statement.
The classified materials included some top-secret files designated with the label “sensitive compartmented information” which is used for highly sensitive information obtained from intelligence sources. The White House Counsel’s Office notified the National Archives, which took possession of the documents the following day.
“The documents were not the subject of any previous request or inquiry by the Archives," Sauber added. "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.”
The announcement drew immediate criticism from former President Donald Trump, whose Mar-a-Lago, Florida home was raided by the FBI last August, where 15 boxes containing nearly 325 classified documents were 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 on his social media account.
Republicans are also scrutinizing the discovery.
“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 Rep. James Comer of Kentucky, chairman of the House Oversight Committee. “How ironic.”
Biden is currently in Mexico City for a summit. Reports from the meeting said he ignored questions shouted from reporters about the classified documents.
“Nothing has changed in his schedule,” said a senior administration official traveling with the president. “He’s focused on the summit and meeting with our closest neighbors.”
