A second set of classified documents have been found in the garage of Joe Biden’s Wilmington, Delaware residence, the White House admitted on Thursday.
The jaw-dropping disclosure comes after classified documents were recovered when Biden’s lawyers conducted searches of the president’s two Delaware residences following an initial discovery of classified records at a former Biden office in Washington, D.C., in November.
“During the review, the lawyers discovered among personal and political papers a small number of additional Obama-Biden administration records with classified markings,” said Richard Sauber, a special counsel to the president. “All but one of these documents were found in storage space in the President’s Wilmington residence garage. One document consisting of one page was discovered among stored materials in an adjacent room.”
Yahoo report: Sauber said Biden’s personal attorneys completed their review of the search results at the properties Wednesday night and recovered no documents at Biden’s Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, residence.
Biden, briefly addressing questions Thursday morning, denied the significance of the new disclosure, admitting his Corvette also is stored in the garage where the documents were found.
“People know I take classified documents and classified material seriously,” Biden said.
He claimed he’s fully cooperating with DOJ’s review. “As part of that process, my lawyers reviewed other places where documents … from my time as vice president were stored, and they finished the review last night. They discovered a small number of documents with classified markings in storage areas and file cabinets in my home and my personal library.”
Reports on Wednesday revealed that 10 documents — touching on Iran, Ukraine and the UK — that were recovered at the Penn Biden Center Nov. 2 had classified markings and were dated between 2013 and 2016. They were found mixed in with Biden family papers — including information about the funeral arrangements for the president’s son Beau, who died in 2015. Some of the documents were reportedly labeled “top secret,” the highest level of government classification.
Under the Presidential Records Act of 1978, documents from each administration’s president and vice president are considered public and are transferred to the National Archives in preparation for deposit in a future presidential library. The Act specifically puts the onus on the outgoing administration to separate personal records from presidential and vice presidential records.
Meanwhile, NBC News reported Thursday that multiple former aides to the then-vice president had been interviewed by federal law enforcement officials. Chicago US Attorney John Lausch was tasked by Garland with an initial review of the Biden documents, a process that reportedly has been completed.
In addition to the Presidential Records Act, federal law states that officials who permit the removal of classified information from its rightful place through “gross negligence” can be imprisoned for up to ten years.
Thursday’s revelation followed the dramatic Aug. 8 raid on former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club and residence in Palm Beach, Fla., in an effort to retrieve classified documents.
Biden at the time unleashed on his predecessor, telling “60 Minutes” on Spet. 18, that Trump had been “irresponsible” in holding on to the papers after leaving office in January 2021.
“I thought, ‘What data was in there that may compromise sources and methods?’” Biden told CBS News’ Scott Pelley. “By that I mean names of people who helped or th– et cetera. And it just– totally irresponsible.”
