The US Department of Justice (DOJ) is probing the discovery of a “small number” of classified documents from President Joe Biden’s vice-presidency between 2009 and 2017 at the Penn Biden Centre for Diplomacy and Global Engagement on 2 November, sources revealed on Monday.
Biden used the Washington think tank as his private office between 2017 and 2019, right before he launched his presidential campaign.
🚨BREAKING: Joe Biden is under investigation by U.S. Attorney after classified documents were found in the offices of a Biden think tank from when he was Vice President. The FBI is also involved in the preliminary inquiry.pic.twitter.com/u4W2VyboDl
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) January 10, 2023
Reportedly, Attorney General Merrick Garland had asked Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois John Lausch, a Trump nominee, to review the matter after the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) passed it to the DOJ.
THE DISCOVERY
In a statement, Special Counsel to President Biden, Richard Sauber, affirmed that the White House is “cooperating” with NARA and the DOJ on the matter.
“The documents were discovered when the President’s personal attorneys were packing files housed in a locked closet to prepare to vacate office space at the Penn Biden Center in Washington, DC,” Sauber revealed, adding that the White House Counsel’s Office notified NARA immediately and they “took possession of the materials the following morning.”
The classified documents from the office Biden used after serving as vice president were discovered on November 2, 2022 — six days before the midterm elections — and their existence was only made public today. @justinsink https://t.co/KiJFAzPQEl
— Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) January 10, 2023
“The documents were not the subject of any previous request or inquiry by the Archives,” he affirmed.
According to CBS News, the FBI is also involved in the matter and it disclosed that the classified documents did not contain nuclear secrets.
REACTIONS
Former President Donald Trump, who is currently being investigated by the DOJ for keeping hundreds of classified materials at his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida, commented on Truth Social, “When is the FBI going to raid the many homes of Joe Biden, perhaps even the White House? These documents were definitely not declassified.”
Similarly, Representative James Comer (R-KY), the newly-appointed House Oversight Committee Chairman, told reporters on Monday, “Is the White House going to be raided tonight? Are they going to raid the Bidens?” Raising concerns about the DOJ’s investigation of Trump’s classified material case, he remarked, “This is further concern that there’s a two-tier justice system within the DOJ with how they treat Republicans versus Democrats, certainly how they treat the former president versus the current president.”
We were told for months that this was
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) January 10, 2023
treasonous… grounds for
impeachment... & meriting the death
penalty, yet I have a feeling nothing
will happen!?
U.S. attorney reviewing classified documents from Joe Biden's vice presidency found at Biden think tank. https://t.co/YUxU2ZvW4R
On a similar note, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Representative Jim Jordan (R-OH) noted that the American people “should have known” about the discovery of classified documents before the mid-term elections.
In contrast, former House Oversight Committee Chairman Representative Jamie Raskin (D-MD) said that Biden’s lawyers “appear to have taken immediate and proper action,” adding that Garland would take “the appropriate steps” and “make an impartial decision about any further action that may be needed.”
However, former Republican Representative Adam Kinzinger, who served on the House Select Committee that investigated the 6 January attack on the US Capitol, pointed out that the Biden enquiry would deflect from Trump’s mishandling. “So, from a political perspective, this is actually probably pretty bad. Not just for the President, but really for the idea of getting justice through the political system,” Kinzinger stressed.
Biden classified doc story is a big deal.
— Trish Regan (@trish_regan) January 10, 2023
He was VP at time thus no authority to declassify anything…
Biden’s docs were discovered before midterms - but public wasn’t told until NOW
COMPARING TRUMP AND BIDEN’S CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS CASES
It is clear that both Biden and Trump failed to uphold the Presidential Records Act, which makes it essential for presidents and vice presidents to give the documents to NARA after their tenure. However, both cases appear to be different.
First, the FBI was not involved in finding classified material from the Penn Biden Centre. Whereas, they raided Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home in August after constantly asking his team to hand over any leftover documents from his presidency.
Second, sources say that about 10 documents were found with Biden, while 15 boxes of documents, including 325 documents with varied levels of classified categories, were confiscated from Trump.
Third, Biden’s team promptly contacted NARA after discovering said documents; whereas, a redacted subpoena revealed that federal officials spent months trying to retrieve sensitive documents from Trump’s team before the DOJ decided to raid his Florida home.
Joe Biden took classified documents from the White House when he was Vice President.
— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) January 10, 2023
The VP does NOT have the power to declassify, only POTUS.
Joe Biden stole classified documents.
This is a very serious crime.
DOJ & NARA can’t sweep this under the rug AND persecute Trump.
Finally, Trump supporters have pointed out that, as president, Trump had the authority to declassify documents, which is something a vice president cannot do. In fact, Trump, too, has mentioned that a president can declassify sensitive material “even by thinking about it,” instead of going through the whole process.
Keeping this in mind, an anonymous person familiar with the Biden review argued, “But at the heart of it is, in both situations, classified national security information went somewhere it shouldn’t have, so that raises a bigger question about the handling of classified [material], both in the White House, and then, during the period of transition.”