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Potentially classified files found at Biden private

office
5 hours ago

GETTY IMAGES

The US justice department is reviewing potentially classified documents

found in President Joe Biden's former office at a think tank, the White House
says.

About 10 of the files were discovered in a locked closet at the Penn Biden
Center in Washington in November by Mr Biden's legal team, said his lawyer.

The batch has been handed over to the National Archives.

Mr Biden's predecessor, Donald Trump, is facing a probe for taking classified

files to Florida after his presidency.
According to the BBC's US partner CBS News, the FBI is involved in the inquiry
into classified documents found at the Penn Biden Center, and US Attorney
General Merrick Garland has been asked to review the papers.

A source familiar with the matter told CBS News the batch did not contain
nuclear secrets and had been contained in a folder in a box with other
unclassified papers.

Richard Sauber, special counsel to President Biden, said in a statement to CBS

on Monday that the files were discovered just before the midterm elections by
Biden attorneys who were clearing out the office space.

Mr Biden kept an office at the think tank, which is about a mile from the White
House, from 2017 to 2020.

Mr Sauber said: "Since that discovery [of the documents], the president's
personal attorneys have co-operated with the [National] Archives and the
Department of Justice in a process to ensure that any Obama-Biden
Administration records are appropriately in the possession of the Archives."

Mr Trump reacted on Monday on his social media site, Truth Social, asking:
"When is the FBI going to raid the many homes of Joe Biden, perhaps even the
White House?"

Mr Trump is under investigation for allegedly resisting requests to give back

about 300 classified documents that he took to his Florida estate, Mar-a-Lago,
after leaving office. The National Archives tipped off the authorities in that
case.

The Biden files were discovered shortly before the justice department
announced it would appoint an independent lawyer to decide whether to
criminally charge Mr Trump over the files found at his golf club.

Watch: Trump supporters upset with FBI search

Congressman James Comer, the new Republican chairman of the House

Oversight Committee, said on Monday that the handling of the Biden papers
raised questions about the justice department's neutrality.

He told reporters: "This is further concern that there's a two-tier justice

system within the DoJ [ justice department] with how they treat Republicans
versus Democrats, certainly how they treat the former president versus the
current president."
Neither the Penn Biden Center nor National Archives immediately
commented.

In September, President Biden appeared on CBS and was asked for his reaction
to a photo showing the documents recovered at Mar-a-Lago.

"How anyone could be that irresponsible?" the president said.

Related Topics

White House US politics United States Joe Biden

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