President Biden on Thursday addressed reporters’ questions after his aides found a second batch of documents with classified markings in a storage area at his Delaware home.
“As I said earlier this week, people know I take classified documents and classified materials seriously. I also said we’re cooperating, fully cooperated with the Justice Department review,” Biden told reporters while answering questions after making remarks on the economy. He added, “The Justice Department was immediately notified, and the lawyers arranged for the Department of Justice to take possession of the documents, so we’re going to see all of this unfold.”
Biden aides have been searching for additional classified materials that might be in other locations after a set of about a dozen classified documents was found in November at a Washington-based think tank he used following his service as Vice President.
The discovery of classified documents at Biden’s properties follows a highly-publicized FBI search warrant of former President Trump’s Florida country club residence, Mar-a-Lago, in August when roughly 11,000 documents were taken by agents. Trump fought to have at least 100 of those documents reviewed by a special master, but he was rebuffed by the U.S. Supreme Court.
In November, Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed veteran career prosecutor Jack Smith as special counsel to determine whether criminal charges should be filed against Trump in the Mar-a-Lago documents case and/or in Trump’s involvement in the January 6, 2021 insurrection on the U.S. Capitol.
On Thursday afternoon, Garland appointed Robert Hur as special counsel to investigate handling of classified documents by Biden.
The National Archives had been formally attempting to retrieve the classified documents Trump took with him when he left the White House since May 2021.
By contrast, sources say Biden’s attorneys have been following “proper protocol” by first notifying the National Archives as well as the Justice Department when the first batch of classified documents was discovered at the Penn-Biden Center, Biden’s think tank.
