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US President Joe Biden said on Tuesday he was shocked to learn that government records had been found by lawyers in his former office in Washington.
Speaking to reporters in Mexico City during the North American Leaders Summit, Biden said lawyers “did what they had to do” when they immediately called the National Archives about the discovery at the Penn Biden Center office. Biden remained in office there after he left the vice presidency in 2017 until shortly before launching his 2019 presidential campaign.
He was asked about the issue after top Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee called for US intelligence to conduct a “damage assessment” of potentially classified documents.
The White House confirmed that the Justice Department was reviewing “a small number of classified documents” found in the office.
“I was briefed on this discovery and was shocked to learn that there were government records brought into the office,” Biden said in his first comments since news of the Nov. 2, 2022 discovery of the document broke Monday.
He added that “I don’t know what’s in the document” and that his lawyer advised him not to ask.
WATCH | Biden addressed documents found in his office for the first time:
US President Joe Biden has said, on the advice of his lawyers, that he has not questioned what is in the government records found in his personal office, and that he is fully cooperating with the discovery.
Republicans call for ‘full and thorough’ review
Earlier Tuesday, Rep. Mike Turner sent a request to Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines, saying that Biden’s withholding of documents made him “potentially in violation of laws that protect national security, including the Espionage Act and the Presidential Records Act.”
Regardless of the federal review, the revelation that Biden potentially mishandled classified records or the president could prove to be a political headache for the president, who called former President Donald Trump’s decision to keep hundreds of these records in his private club in Florida “irresponsible.”
“Those entrusted with access to classified information have a duty and obligation to protect it,” Turner said in a letter to Haines. “This matter requires a full and comprehensive review.”
On Tuesday, Rep. James Comer, the new Republican chairman of the House Oversight Committee, sent a letter to the White House Counsel’s Office requesting copies of documents found in Biden’s office, communications about the discovery, and a list of those who may have them. have access to the office where they are found. The White House did not immediately respond to the request.
Haines agreed in September to conduct a “risk assessment” rather than a “damage assessment” of the Trump case.
The difference between the situation of Trump and Biden
There are significant differences between Trump and Biden’s situation, including the gravity of the grand jury investigation into the Mar-a-Lago matter. The intelligence risk assessment to the Trump documents is to review the seized records for classification as well as “potential risks to national security that would lead to the disclosure of relevant documents.”
Sen. Mark Warner, the Democratic chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, requested a briefing on both sets of documents.
“Our classification system exists to protect the most important national security secrets, and we expect to be briefed on what happened at Mar-a-Lago and in Biden’s office as part of our constitutional oversight obligations,” he said.
“From what we know so far, the latter is finding documents with signatures, and turning them over, which is certainly different than the months-long effort to withhold material that the government is actively seeking. But again, that’s what we should be asking.”
Trump weighed in
Special counsel to the president Richard Sauber said Monday that after Biden’s lawyers found the notes, they notified the National Archives and Records Administration — which took custody of the documents the next day.
“Since the discovery, the president’s personal attorney has been cooperating with the Archives and the Department of Justice in a process to ensure that the records of the Obama-Biden Administration are consistent with the Archives,” Sauber said.
A person familiar with the matter but not authorized to discuss it publicly, U.S. Attorney Merrick Garland asked U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois John Lausch to review the matter after the Archives referred the matter to the department. Lausch is one of the top U.S. attorneys on hold from the Trump administration.
Trump weighed in on Monday on his social media site, asking, “When is the FBI going to raid a lot of Joe Biden’s homes, maybe the White House?”
Republicans recently took control of the House of Representatives and promised to launch an investigation into the Biden administration.
The revelations could also complicate the US Justice Department’s consideration of whether to prosecute Trump, who is trying to win back the White House in 2024 and has repeatedly called the department’s inquiries into his own conduct “corrupt.”
The National Archives did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday. Spokesmen for Garland and Lausch declined to comment.
‘Maybe Americans need to know’
Comer also sent a letter to the National Archives requesting records and correspondence related to the discovery of the Biden documents, asserting that “NARA’s inconsistent handling of the return of classified records held by former President Trump and President Biden raises questions about political bias in the agency.” “
His Democratic counterpart, Rep. Jamie Raskin, said Biden’s lawyers “appear to have acted immediately and appropriately.”
“I am confident that the attorney general is taking the appropriate steps to ensure a careful review of the circumstances surrounding the possession and discovery of these documents and to make an unbiased decision as to what further action is necessary,” he said.
Republican Rep. Jim Jordan, chairman of the powerful House Judiciary Committee, said that the American public deserves to know earlier about secret documents.
“They knew about it a week before the election, maybe the American people should know,” Jordan told reporters. “They must have known about the attack at Mar-a-Lago 91 days before this election, but it would be better if on November 2nd, the country will know that there are classified documents in the Biden Center.”
Jordan is among House Republicans who are pushing to create a “select subcommittee on the weaponization of the federal government” in the Judiciary Committee.
It is unclear why the White House did not publicize the discovery of the documents or the DOJ review sooner. CBS first reported Monday about the discovery of the classified documents.
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