MEXICO CITY – President Joe Biden said Tuesday he was surprised to learn that classified documents had been found in a private office he used prior to his presidential campaign and that he doesn’t know what’s in them.
“People know I take classified documents, classified information, seriously,” Biden said at a news conference in Mexico City at the conclusion of a summit with the leaders of Mexico and Canada.
He added: “‘I was surprised to learn that there are any government records that were taken there to that office.”
Biden said he was briefed about the documents as soon as they were discovered in a box last fall by his lawyers, who were cleaning out the office. When they realized there were several classified documents in the box, “they did what they should have done,” Biden said. “They immediately called the (National) Archives and turned them over to the archives.”
The White House confirmed Monday that the Justice Department is reviewing a number of classified documents recovered in a storage closet connected to an office used by Biden prior to his presidential campaign.
Biden’s personal attorneys discovered the undisclosed number of records in a locked closet on Nov. 2 as they were preparing to vacate a Washington office space known as the Penn Biden Center, which was used by the then-former vice president from 2017 until the launch of the 2020 presidential campaign.
Richard Sauber, a special counsel to the president, said the documents were immediately turned over the National Archives.
Since that time, Biden’s personal attorneys have been cooperating with the National Archives and a Justice Department review headed by U.S. Attorney John Lausch Jr. of Chicago.
“We are cooperating fully – cooperating fully – with the review, which I hope will be finished soon,” Biden said.
Classified documents found:DOJ reviewing classified documents found at Biden facility from time as VP
The discovery of the documents comes as the Justice Department is weighing whether to bring political charges against former President Donald Trump, who kept classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago private club in Florida.
Trump resisted returning 11,000 administration documents despite repeated requests from the National Archives under the Presidential Records Act. The FBI seized the documents last August during a search of Mar-a-Lago for evidence of violations of the Espionage Act or obstruction of justice. The seized documents included about 100 classified records.
“When is the FBI going to raid the many homes of Joe Biden, perhaps even the White House?” Trump asked on his social media platform Truth Social after the discovery of the classified documents stored in the storage closet connected to Biden’s former office.
Congressional Republicans are vowing to investigate what they contend is different treatment between GOP and Democratic presidents
Rebecca Morin and Michael Collins cover the White House. Follow Morin on Twitter @RebeccaMorin_ and Collins @mcollinsNEWS.
Contributing: Kevin Johnson, Bart Jansen and Josh Meyer
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