Biden ‘surprised’ by classified documents found at center
GOP, Democrat lawmakers want more information
President Biden said Tuesday he was surprised to learn that classified documents were taken to his personal office after he served as vice president and does not know what is in the records, as Democratic and Republican leaders on Capitol Hill call for more information about a discovery that has spurred a review by the Justice Department.
The classified documents, about 10 in total, were found at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement, an institute in downtown Washington that Biden started after leaving the White House in 2017. Biden’s personal lawyers found the documents on Nov. 2 and immediately turned them over to the National Archives and Records Administration. The White House on Monday confirmed it was cooperating with the Justice Department.
‘‘I was briefed about this discovery and surprised to learn that there are any government records that were taken there to that office,’’ Biden said at a news conference in Mexico City on Tuesday evening. ‘‘But I don’t know what’s in the documents. My lawyers have not suggested I ask what documents they were. I’ve turned over the boxes — they’ve turned over the boxes to the Archives. And we’re cooperating fully — cooperating fully with the review, which I hope will be finished soon, and there will be more detail at that time.’’
Representative James Comer, the Republican chairman of the House Oversight Committee, on Tuesday asked the White House and the National Archives to produce by Jan. 24 all documents and communications between the national archives, the White House, the Department of Justice, and Biden’s attorneys related to the classified documents while raising concerns about potential political bias at the archives.
‘‘NARA instigated a public and unprecedented FBI raid at Mar-a-Lago — former President Trump’s home — to retrieve presidential records. NARA’s inconsistent treatment of recovering classified records held by former President Trump and President Biden raises questions about political bias at the agency,’’ Comer wrote in a letter to Debra Steidel Wall, the acting archivist.
In addition, Democratic Senator Mark R. Warner of Virginia, the chair of the Select Committee on Intelligence, asked for a briefing on the Biden documents while renewing a request for one on the classified documents found at Mar-a-Lago, which is at the center of a Justice Department criminal inquiry.
Biden’s files were mixed in with other personal documents, including documents related to the planning of the funeral of Beau Biden, the son of the president who died in 2015, according to a person familiar with the inquiry, who like some others spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.
Richard Sauber, a special counsel to Biden, said in a statement Monday the White House was cooperating with the Justice Department’s inquiry and noted that Biden’s lawyers quickly handed over the documents to the National Archives, which handles presidential records, upon finding them.
There are key differences between the Justice Department’s inquiry into the review of the Biden documents and the agency’s ongoing criminal investigation into former Trump’s possible mishandling of classified documents. The FBI recovered more than 300 classified documents from Mar-a-Lago last year, according to government court filings.
In addition to the discrepancy in volume, the classified materials were voluntarily returned to the National Archives by Biden, whereas Trump repeatedly refused to turn over materials, followed by a false assurance from his lawyers that he had returned all classified information in his possession.
The nature of the documents is also varied, according to a person familiar with both inquiries.