The White House confirmed that classified documents were found in the house of Joe Biden

Documents with classified labels from the time of Joe Biden as vice president were found at the president’s home in Wilmington, Delaware, the White House confirmed Thursday, days after it was revealed that sensitive documents were also found in the office of his former institute in Washington.

At a press conference on economic issues, Biden was consulted on the matter and reaffirmed that he cooperates with the authorities to investigate the matter and assured that the Department of Justice was contacted immediately after the finding.

Richard Sauber, special adviser to the president, said that After Biden’s personal lawyers found the initial documents, they looked at other places where records might have been sent after Biden left the vice presidency in 2017.

Sauber said a “small number” of documents with classified markings were found. in a storage space in Biden’s garage in Wilmington, with a document located in an adjacent room. The White House did not say when the subsequent search began or when the additional documents were found, only that the search was completed Wednesday night.

Sauber said the Justice Department was “immediately notified” of the location of the documents and that the department’s attorneys took custody of the records.

Regardless of the Justice Department’s review, the revelation that Biden potentially mishandled classified or presidential records is proving a political headache for Biden, who said former President Donald Trump was “irresponsible” for keeping hundreds of such records. at his private club in Florida.

Earlier this week, The White House confirmed that the department was reviewing “a small number of documents with classified marks” found in the Washington office.. According to the White House, Biden’s lawyers discovered the material in the offices of the Penn Biden Center and immediately called the National Archives to inform them of the find. Biden maintained an office there after leaving the vice presidency in 2017 until shortly before launching his 2019 Democratic presidential campaign.

The revelation that Biden’s team discovered additional classified documents came hours after White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre dodged questions about Biden’s handling of classified information and the West Wing’s handling of discovery. .

Jean-Pierre had said on Wednesday that the White House was committed to handling the matter “properly”, noting that Biden’s personal lawyers had immediately informed the National Archives.

But declined to say when Biden himself had been informed, whether there were more classified documents potentially located in other unauthorized locations, and why the White House waited more than two months to disclose the discovery of the initial batch of documents. They met on November 2, days before the midterm elections.

“As my colleagues on the Council have stated and told all of you yesterday, this is an ongoing process under review by the Department of Justice. So we’re going to be limited in what we can say here,” Jean-Pierre said.

The Justice Department is reviewing records found at the Penn Biden Center and Attorney General Merrick Garland has asked John Lausch, US attorney in Chicago, to review the matter, a person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press this week. That person was also not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Lausch is one of the few federal prosecutors remaining from the Trump administration.

Biden has said that he “surprised to know that there are government records that were taken there to that office”, but that his lawyers “did what they should have done” by immediately calling the National Archives.

The top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee has called for that intelligence agencies carry out a “damage assessment” of potentially classified documents.

The disclosure may also complicate the Justice Department’s consideration of whether to file charges against trump. The Republican is trying to take back the White House by 2024 and has repeatedly claimed that the department’s investigation into his own conduct amounted to “corruption.”

There are Significant differences between the Trump and Biden situationsincluding the severity of an ongoing grand jury investigation into the Mar-a-Lago affair.

(With information from AP)