White House Confirms Additional Classified Documents Found at Biden’s Home
Written by SOURCE on January 15, 2023
Joe Biden is facing a classified documents scandal.
The White House confirmed Saturday that five additional pages with classification markings were found at POTUS’ home in Wilmington, Delaware. Richard Sauber, special counsel to the president, said the discovery was made earlier this week as Biden’s personal lawyers were searching the property. Sauber claimed the attorneys came across one classified document on Wednesday, but had to stop the search because they didn’t have security clearance.
Sauber, who has security clearance, reportedly arrived at the residence on Thursday to facilitate the transfer of said document to the Justice Department; however, during his stop, Sauber reportedly discovered five more classified documents in Biden’s home.
“While I was transferring it to the DOJ officials who accompanied me, five additional pages with classification markings were discovered among the material with it, for a total of six pages,” Sauber said in a statement. “The DOJ officials with me immediately took possession of them.”
The announcement came just days after the White House confirmed a number of classified documents were found in Biden’s private garage as well as his old offices at the Penn Biden Center in Washington. The documents, which were from Biden’s time as Barack Obama’s vice president, were reportedly discovered in early November, just days before the midterm elections. A source claimed that a total of 20 classified files were recovered between the two locations.
“The President’s lawyers have acted immediately and voluntarily to provide the Penn Biden documents to the Archives and the Wilmington documents to DOJ,” Sauber said. “We have now publicly released specific details about the documents identified, how they were identified, and where they were found.”
Though Biden has denied knowing that he had the files, the Department of Justice is looking into the matter and will determine whether the president mishandled sensitive material. On Thursday, Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the probe will be led by Robert Hur, a Trump appointee who served as the chief federal law enforcement officer for the District of Maryland between 2018-2021.
Sauber said the Biden team is fully cooperating with the DOJ.
“We are confident that a thorough review will show that these documents were inadvertently misplaced, and the President and his lawyers acted promptly upon discovery of this mistake,” Sauber said in a statement.
The findings may complicate a similar DOJ probe involving former president, Donald Trump. In summer 2022, FBI agents raided Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate and discovered dozens of empty document folders marked “CLASSIFIED.” Biden addressed the matter during a September interview on 60 Minutes.
“How that could possibly happen, how one anyone could be that irresponsible,” Biden said. “And I thought what data was in there that may compromise sources and methods. By that, I mean, names of people helped or et cetera. And it’s just totally irresponsible.”
