Topline
A handful of apparently classified documents found at an office President Joe Biden formerly used at a D.C. think tank included briefings about Iran, Ukraine and the United Kingdom, according to CNN, as the Justice Department conducts a review to determine whether there was any criminal wrongdoing.
President Joe Biden gestures next to his Mexican counterpart Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (out of … [+]
Key Facts
The records were dated between 2013 and 2016, corresponding to time Biden served as vice president, CNN reported, citing a source with knowledge of the documents.
Ten classified documents were reportedly discovered inside three or four boxes containing unclassified records.
It’s not clear exactly what information the briefings contained, and the White House’s legal team remains unaware of what is in the records since it has not had a chance to review them, according to CNN.
White House attorney Richard Sauber said in a statement Monday that Biden’s personal lawyers found the records on November 2 while “packing files housed in a locked closet,” before alerting the National Archives, which referred the matter to the DOJ.
Sauber said the White House is “cooperating” with the Justice Department, which did not return a request for comment from Forbes.
Attorney General Merrick Garland has reportedly selected Chicago-based U.S. Attorney John Lausch to oversee an inquiry into the matter.
What To Watch For
Incoming House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) sent letters Tuesday to the White House and National Archives demanding access to the recovered documents.
Key Background
The discovery of the records has drawn comparisons with documents found last year at President Donald Trump’s Mar-A-Lago estate, but the situations are different in many ways. The FBI seized hundreds of documents marked classified during an August raid at Trump’s Mar-A-Lago resort after federal prosecutors said the former president failed to comply with a subpoena legally requiring him to turn over the records. Trump is now the subject of a criminal probe, but there is no active criminal case involving Biden or his associates as of yet, and the White House claims there was no previous federal request to turn over Biden’s documents. Trump also reportedly held on to sensitive information concerning nuclear secrets, which were not found in Biden’s records, according to CBS News. Trump has denied any wrongdoing, saying he declassified all the records after he left the White House—an assertion he hasn’t provided evidence to back up. The Presidential Records Act requires presidents and their administrations to turn over classified records at the end of a president’s term.
Tangent
The office was at the campus of the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement, operated by the University of Pennsylvania. Biden served as an honorary professor there in the years leading up to his 2020 presidential bid, receiving $917,643 from the institution, according to CBS News.
Further Reading
Classified Records Found In Biden’s Former Private Office (Forbes)
Mar-A-Lago Raid: FBI Investigating Whether Trump Violated These 3 Statutes (Forbes)
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/nicholasreimann/2023/01/10/bidens-old-private-office-held-classified-records-about-iran-and-ukraine-report-says/