Confidential documents were found in a locked cabinet of a think tank. They are said to date back to Joe Biden’s time as vice president.
How did US President Joe Biden handle confidential documents during his time as vice president? Photo: Patrick Semansky/ap
WASHINGTON afp | Confidential documents from Biden’s time as vice president under Barack Obama have been found on the premises of a think tank that was temporarily used by US President Joe Biden as an office. Biden’s lawyers discovered the documents last November and turned them over to the responsible national archive, Biden’s special counsel Richard Sauber said on Monday (local time).
These are a “small number” of confidential documents, Sauber said. Last August, investigators seized more than 100 classified government documents during a search of the private home of Biden’s predecessor, Donald Trump.
As for the documents from Biden’s time as vice president, Special Counsel Sauber said lawyers found them in a locked cabinet at the Penn Biden Center think tank, which is affiliated with the University of Pennsylvania.
The White House is working with the National Archives and the Justice Department on the matter, Sauber said. The documents “were not the subject of a previous inquiry or investigation”. Since his surrender, Biden’s lawyers have worked to “make sure all Obama-Biden administration documents are properly on file.”
No nuclear secrets
The CBS News television station reported that Attorney General and Attorney General Merrick Garland had instructed the Chicago prosecutor to look into the documents, and the FBI was also investigating. According to CBS there are about 10 documents, but according to a source cited by the broadcaster they do not contain any nuclear secrets.
Last August, investigators searched former President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home after he ignored repeated requests to help recover stolen White House documents.
The FBI found thousands of government documents in Trump’s home, more than 100 of which were marked confidential, some with particularly high classifications.
After the documents found surrounding Biden became known, Trump said, “When is the FBI going to conduct a raid on Joe Biden’s numerous apartments, possibly even the White House? Those documents have definitely not been released.
