More classified documents have been found at Joe Biden’s home, leaving lawyers scrambling to get a handle on the situation. Five pages of documents were found in a room next to his garage, bringing the total number of apparently mishandled documents to 16. A statement by White House lawyer Richard Sauber said the documents were found when after the discovery of an initial page in the President’s garage, two days ago.
The announcement however did not explain why the White House waited to reveal the additional pages.
Sauber said he was in Wilmington Thursday to facilitate the handover of the documents to the Department of Justice.
He said: “While I was transferring it to the DOJ officials who accompanied me, five additional pages with classification markings were discovered among the material with it, for a total of six pages. The DOJ officials with me immediately took possession of them.”
Last week, Biden’s lawyers said they had found a document labelled classified at his home dating to when he was Vice President for President Obama.
His aides previously found 10 classified files two months ago labelled “Top Secret” locked in a closet at the Penn Biden Center think tank in Washington DC.
Robert Hur, a former Trump-appointed US attorney for the district of Maryland, has been appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland as special counsel leading an investigation into the handling of the papers.
Attorney General Merrick Garland said an official probe is “in the public interest” after documents were recovered from Biden’s addresses.
Mr Sauber reiterated Joe Biden’s comments that they were cooperating fully with the Justice Department.
Republicans have slammed the President for his handling of the documents and likened the situation to that of former President Donald Trump, whose Mar-a-Lago resort was raided by the FBI after he withheld classified documents requested by the National Archives.
“Now, we learn that Biden kept additional classified materials at his home in Delaware in his GARAGE. Yet there was no raid. No ransacking of Biden’s home. Nothing,” Crenshaw said in a tweet.
He added: “This is hypocrisy at the highest level and it’s dangerous. The appointment of a special counsel must be supplemented by a full-scale congressional investigation.”
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In a press conference on Thursday, Biden was asked how classified documents could be left “next to your corvette”.
He responded: “By the way, my corvette is in a locked garage, OK? So it’s not like it’s sitting out in the street.”
The President then confirmed, when prompted again, that the documents were in a locked garage “as well as my corvette”.
He added: “But as I said earlier this week, people know that I take classified documents and classified material seriously. I also said we’re cooperating fully and completely with the Justice Department’s review.”
