President Joe Biden’s legal team found out a second batch of classified documents. The disclosure comes days after an attorney for the president said Biden’s aides had discovered a “small number” of classified documents in his former Washington office.
For the same topic, Donald Trump faces a criminal investigation. The case is already an embarrassment to the White House and has become a problem.
A source consulted by the AP agency said the president’s legal team had found additional classified material in a second place. The person was not authorized to discuss the details of the sensitive matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. The person did not say when or where the material was found or any specific details about it the level of classification of documents.
The revelation that Biden’s lawyers uncovered more classified documents came hours after White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre dodging questions on Biden’s handling of confidential information and the West Wing’s handling of discovery.
The White House said he promised to take care of the matter in the “right way,” indicating immediate notification to the National Archives by Biden’s personal attorneys.
The first discovery
Earlier this week, the White House confirmed that the Justice Department was reviewing “a small number of documents with classified marks” that were found in the office.
Biden’s lawyers discovered the documents in the offices of the Penn Biden Center and then immediately called the National Archives about the discovery, the White House said. Biden held office there from stepping down as vice president in 2017 until shortly before the launch of his 2019 Democratic presidential campaign.
The White House faces tough questions after the discovery of confidential documents allegedly disappeared by President Joe Biden, in a case that complicates the authorities’ investigation into another scandal involving Donald Trump.
Biden’s attorneys initially uncovered about 10 classified documents at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement, a center in Washington that Biden created after serving as vice president.
Now, the lawyers of the president of the United States found more confidential information somewhere else.
NBC News, among other outlets, reported Wednesday that Biden’s aides had found out “at least one additional lot” of unprotected documents.
The parallels with Trump
The latest revelation ensures that the case will not end quickly, with unpredictable consequences for the future of a similar case involving former President Trump, who preserved a gigantic number of documents at his Florida residence after leaving the White House in 2021.
While Trump’s case is more serious — the FBI recovered some 11,000 documents during a search of his residence in August, potentially earning him obstruction of justice charges — Biden’s is nothing short of embarrassing for a president who boasts high ethical standards.
Analysts also say it could introduce complicated political considerations into the investigation against Trump, who is already calling for a similar deal for Biden.
“When will the FBI search Joe Biden’s many residences and even the White House?” he wrote on his Truth Social network.
Despite admitting mistakes were made, the White House at least affirmed the Biden administration he acted immediately to rectify the situation.
As soon as the first batch of documents was discovered in Biden’s former office at the Penn Biden Center last November, attorneys turned them over to the National Archives, which handles all of these materials, the White House counsel’s office said.
Also, Biden’s lawyers are monitoring the possible location of other lost documentsHe added. Which could explain the discovery of new documents on Wednesday, and possibly more to come.
In an effort to defuse allegations of political interference, Attorney General Merrick Garland has assigned a Chicago federal prosecutor appointed during the Trump administration to look into the missing Biden documents.
A fundamentally different response from Trump, who did not cooperate with the authorities’ attempts to recover the missing documents, leading to the FBI raid.
In a briefing with the press Wednesday, White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre avoided answering questions in apology for the ongoing Justice Department investigation.
“We will be limited to what we can say here“, he has declared.
Pressed repeatedly, she pointed to the statement Biden himself made Tuesday during a press conference in Mexico. The president assured it he was unaware of the contents of the discovered documents.
“People know I take confidential documents, confidential information seriously,” he said.
Source: AFP and AP
Source: Clarin
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.