Classified Records Found In Biden’s Former Private Office

Topline

A series of documents marked classified dating to when President Joe Biden served as vice president were discovered inside his former office at a Washington, D.C., think tank two months ago, according to the White House—a matter that has been referred to the Justice Department, which is also investigating a trove of classified records found at former President Donald Trump’s home last year.

Then-Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden delivers remarks about the coronavirus outbreak on … [+] March 12, 2020 in Wilmington, Delaware. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

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Key Facts

Around 10 classified documents were found inside Biden’s former office at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement, which Biden used from 2017 to 2019, according to CBS News.

White House special counsel Richard Sauber said in a statement Biden’s personal attorneys found the records on November 2 of last year while packing files, and then notified the National Archives.

Attorney General Merrick Garland has reportedly tapped Chicago-based U.S. Attorney John Lausch to look into the matter.

It’s unclear what the status of any potential investigation is—the DOJ did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Forbes.

What We Don’t Know

It’s not clear what information the documents contain, or how the records got to the office. The classified information does not concern nuclear secrets, according to CBS News, citing a source with knowledge of the records.

Key Background

The Presidential Records Act legally requires administrations to turn over all sensitive documents when a president leaves office, though the law was little-known before a trove of apparently classified documents were discovered at Mar-A-Lago, Trump’s resort residence. At this point, the scope of the classified documents held by Biden appears to pale in comparison to the allegations against Trump, after an hours-long FBI raid at Mar-A-Lago in August uncovered more than 300 classified documents, some which were reportedly marked “top secret” and concerned nuclear capabilities. The raid was carried out after Trump’s legal team allegedly failed to comply with a grand jury subpoena demanding all classified records he still possessed. Garland appointed a special counsel to oversee the investigation in November, after Trump launched his 2024 presidential campaign. Trump has denied any wrongdoing.

Tangent

Biden served as an honorary professor at the University of Pennsylvania—which runs the center—between 2017 and the start of his presidential campaign, and received $917,643 from the university to lead the center and give speeches there, according to CBS News.

Chief Critic

Trump wrote on Truth Social after the news broke Monday: “When is the FBI going to raid the many homes of Joe Biden, perhaps even the White House? These documents were definitely not declassified.”