Classified documents found in Biden’s office, ‘personal library’
January 12, 2023
Following the Mar-a-Lago raid on President Trump several months ago to take back classified documents, this conundrum has hit another one of America’s most powerful leaders. On Tuesday, officials announced that lawyers found classified documents in President Biden’s think tank office back on Nov. 2.
The documents found were from the era when Biden was vice president under President Obama and it has been reported that it was in 2017 when the documents were taken to that office. Then, several days later, it was revealed that additional documents were found in Biden’s personal house in Delaware, locked away in his garage next to his infamous Corvette.
In revealing the discovery of the documents, Biden’s counsel, Richard Sauber, found “ [the documents] were not the subject of any previous request or inquiry by the Archives.”
While Biden was “surprised” with the fact that he held classified documents for nearly five years, this sets the notion of differentiating this case with the Mar-a-Lago raid due to the fact that the National Archives was seeking the classified information that President Trump had at his Florida estate and refused to give back. Furthermore, President Biden, upon finding out that these classified documents were revealed, handed everything over to the Justice Department and National Archives upon the request by those departments.
“Following the discovery of government documents at the Penn Biden Center in November 2022, and coordinating closely with the Department of Justice, the President’s lawyers have searched the President’s Wilmington and Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, residences — the other locations where files from his Vice-Presidential office might have been shipped in the course of the 2017 transition. The lawyers completed that review last night,” said Sauber.
Merrick Garland has tapped former federal prosecutor Robert Hur to serve as the special prosecutor for the documents found at Biden’s private home and office after tasking John Lausch, US attorney from Chicago and Trump appointee, to review the documents found at the Penn Biden Center several months ago.
However, even with the Trump connection and prosecutor John Lausch, Republicans are highlighting the “hypocrisy” by Biden and the Democrats following the saga that the Mar-a-Lago raid created before the 2022 Midterms.
“Here’s an individual that sat on ‘60 Minutes’ that was so concerned about President Trump’s documents locked in behind, and now we find that this is a vice president keeping it for years out in the open in different locations,” said Speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy.
Even with the special prosecutor appointed, McCarthy and other Republicans in Congress, believe it is in the best interest to have Congress investigate this and they “don’t think there needs to be a special prosecutor.”
Investigations are set to begin as soon as possible with officials looking at other places connected with the president to see if there are any more classified documents in his possession.