WASHINGTON (AP) – Lawyers for US President Joe Biden found more classified documents than previously known at his home in Wilmington, Delaware, the White House acknowledged Saturday.
White House counsel Richard Sauber said in a statement that a total of six pages of classified documents were found during a search of Biden’s private library. The White House had earlier said that only one page was found there.
The latest disclosures are in addition to the discovery of documents found in Biden’s garage in December and at the Penn Biden Center in Washington in November at his former offices as his vice president.
The apparent mishandling of classified documents and official records by the Obama administration is being investigated by Robert Hur, a former US attorney who was appointed Thursday as special counsel by Attorney General Merrick Garland.
Sabir said in a statement on Saturday that Biden’s personal lawyers, who did not have a security clearance, called off their search after finding the first page on Wednesday evening. Sauber received the remaining materials on Thursday as it was being facilitated by the Department of Justice for their retrieval.
“When I was transferring it to the DOJ officials who accompanied me, five additional pages with classification markings were discovered among the materials, for a total of six pages,” Saber said. “I was immediately taken possession of by DOJ officers with me.”
Sauber previously stated that the White House “was convinced that a thorough review would reveal that these documents were inadvertently lost, and that the President and his lawyers acted promptly upon learning of the mistake.”
The driveway of US President Joe Biden’s home on January 13, 2023 in Wilmington, Delaware. (AP Photo/Carolyn Castor)
Sauber’s statement did not explain why the White House waited two days to provide an updated account of the number of classified records. The White House is already facing scrutiny for waiting more than two months to acknowledge the discovery of an initial set of documents in the Biden office.
On Thursday, when asked whether Biden could guarantee that further searches would not turn up additional classified documents, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters, “You must assume that this is complete.” It’s done, yes.”
Sabir reiterated Saturday that the White House would cooperate with the investigation into Hur.
Bob Bauer, the president’s personal counsel, said that his legal team “has attempted to balance the importance of public transparency with the established norms and limits necessary to protect the integrity of the investigation.”
The Justice Department historically sets a high legal bar before bringing criminal charges in cases involving the mishandling of classified information, with the requirement that someone intended to break the law as opposed to merely being careless or negligent in doing so. The primary statute governing the illegal removal and retention of classified documents makes it an offense to “knowingly” remove classified documents and store them in an unauthorized manner.
The circumstances involving Biden, at least so far as known, are separate from a separate investigation into the misuse of classified documents at former President Donald Trump’s private club and residence in Florida.
In Trump’s case, special counsel Jack Smith is probing whether anyone sought to obstruct his investigation into the retention of classified records at the Palm Beach estate.
Justice Department officials have said Trump’s representative failed to fully comply with a subpoena demanding the return of classified records, prompting agents to return to the home with search warrants so they could retrieve additional material. Can collect
