WASHINGTON (AP) – The Justice Department is reviewing a batch of potentially classified documents found in the Washington office space of President Joe Biden’s former institution, the White House said Monday.
Richard Sauber, special counsel to the president, said “certain documents with classified markings were discovered” as Biden’s personal attorney was cleaning out the offices of the Penn Biden Center, where the president held an office after leaving the vice presidency in 2017. was kept. Shortly before launching his 2020 presidential campaign in 2019. The documents were found on November 2, 2022, in a “locked closet” at the office, Sauber said.
Sauber said lawyers immediately notified the Office of White House Counsel, which notified the National Archives and Records Administration — which took possession of the documents the next day.
“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 in the Archives’ possession are properly maintained.” Saber said.
A person familiar with the matter but not authorized to discuss it publicly said Attorney General Merrick Garland has asked US Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois John Lausch to review the matter when The archives referred the issue to the department. Losch is one of the few US attorneys to have been detained by former President Donald Trump’s administration.
Despite the Justice Department review, the revelation that Biden potentially falsified classified or misrepresented presidential records could prove a political headache for the president, who has been accused of keeping hundreds of such records at Trump’s private club in Florida. called the decision “irresponsible”.
Trump raised the question on his social media site on Monday, asking, “When is the FBI going to raid Joe Biden’s multiple homes, maybe even the White House?”
Local law enforcement officers are seen in front of former President Donald Trump’s home at Mar-a-Lago on August 9, 2022 in Palm Beach, Florida. (Giorgio Viera / AFP)
The revelation comes as Republicans have taken control of the House of Representatives and are pledging to launch a sweeping investigation of Biden’s administration.
It could also complicate the Justice Department’s consideration of whether to bring charges against Trump, who has launched a repeat bid for the White House in 2024 and has repeatedly claimed that his own conduct The department’s investigation is tantamount to “corruption”.
Rep. James Comer, the new GOP chairman of the House Oversight Committee, said Monday that the revelation raised questions about the Justice Department’s handling of the Trump investigation.
“Is the White House going to be raided tonight? Are they going to raid Biden?” he asked reporters. “It is of further concern that there is a two-tier justice system within the DOJ in terms of how they treat Republicans versus Democrats, certainly how they treat former presidents versus current presidents.”
Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, chairman of the powerful House Judiciary Committee, said Monday that the American public deserved to know firsthand about the revelation of classified documents.
“They knew about this a week before the election, probably the American people should have known,” Jordan told reporters. “They certainly knew about the raid on Mar-a-Lago 91 days before this election, but it would have been nice if the country knew on November 2 that there were classified documents in the Biden Center.”
Representative Jim Jordan, Republican of Ohio, participates in a discussion at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on February 26, 2022 in Orlando, Florida (AP Photo/John Roux, File)
Jordan is one of the House Republicans pushing for the creation of a “Select Subcommittee on the Armament of the Federal Government” within the Judiciary Committee.
That committee is expected to form as soon as this week, setting up a showdown between Republicans and prosecutors involved in various federal investigations, including those involving Trump.
The National Archives did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday. A message seeking comment from the US attorney’s office in Chicago was not immediately returned Monday.
CBS was the first to report on the discovery of potentially classified documents.
President Joe Biden visits the University of Pennsylvania Bookstore with his granddaughter, Natalie Biden, Friday, Oct. 7, 2022, in Philadelphia. (AP/Manuel Bales Seneta)
The Justice Department has been investigating for months the retention of nearly 300 documents that were marked classified and recovered from Trump’s Florida property. In that instance, prosecutors say, Trump’s representatives resisted requests to give back the entire storage of classified documents and failed to fully comply with subpoenas demanding their return.
FBI agents executed a search warrant on the Mar-a-Lago property in August, removing 15 boxes of records.
That investigation is being led by Special Counsel Jack Smith. Prosecutors have interviewed an array of Trump associates and are using a grand jury to hear evidence.
It is unclear when a decision will be made whether Trump, or anyone else, should be charged.
The think tank, formally known as the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement, is affiliated with the University of Pennsylvania and continues to operate independently of the Biden administration.
