Biden’s aides discover more classified documents at new location

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• Biden’s aides found a second batch of classified documents at a new location.
• Biden’s team has been conducting an exhaustive search for additional documents since the first discovery of a “small batch” in November.
• The White House asserted the team notified the National Archives immediately and turned the documents over.

President Joe Biden’s team found a second batch of classified documents at another location than his private office at a Washington, DC think tank.

It’s not immediately clear how many documents were discovered in the new batch, where or when exactly they were found, or what their classification level was.

Earlier this week, the White House said a “small” number of classified documents were found in a “locked closet” at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement in Washington, an office Biden used after leaving the Obama administration. Richard Sauber, special counsel to the president, confirmed the report in a statement on Monday.

Sauber said Biden’s attorneys immediately notified the National Archives about the documents, and the agency took control of the documents the following day. The Archives referred the matter to the Department of Justice.

According to a CNN report, the former vice president wasn’t aware the documents were in that office. Biden added that he didn’t become aware of that fact until his personal lawyers notified the White House counsel’s office.

Biden, who was in Mexico, told reporters on Tuesday that he was “surprised” by the discovery, and that he didn’t know what was in the documents.

“We’re cooperating fully,” Biden added.

NBC News reported that less than a dozen documents with classified markings were found at the Biden center.

Attorney General Merrick Garland assigned John Lausch, the Trump-appointed US attorney in Chicago, to investigate the matter. CNN also reported that Lausch has finished the initial part of his investigation and presented his preliminary findings to Garland.

Former President Donald Trump has been the subject of a federal criminal investigation by the Justice Department over the possession of over 100 documents with classified markings. The documents were seized by the FBI after a search in Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence.

“A giant Scam,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social account, mocking Biden about the find while saying he’d been unfairly targeted by federal investigators.

Source: NBC News