Biden Says Classified Docs Found in Cabinets, Library, Next to His Corvette at His Delaware Home
Marine One, with US President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden aboard, departs from the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, DC, as they travel to spend the weekend in Wilmington, Delaware. File photo.
Congressional Republicans have vowed to probe the president’s alleged mishandling of government records after two troves of documents, featuring information from the time period when Joe Biden was serving as President Barack Obama’s vice president, were discovered by investigators at offices affiliated with the powerful politician.President Joe Biden has confirmed that classified documents from his days as vice president have been found in filing cabinets, a library and a locked garage at his Wilmington, Delaware home.”It’s in a locked garage, okay? So it’s not like they’re sitting out in the street,” Biden said, speaking to reporters on Thursday. “Yes, as well as my Corvette,” he added, when asked to clarify.
"But as I said earlier this week, people know I take classified documents and classified materials seriously. I also said we're cooperating fully and completely with the Justice Department's review," Biden said, turning to remarks from a prepared script. Biden said his lawyers had "discovered a small number of documents of classified markings in storage areas and file cabinets" in his home and personal library.
Biden added that as in the case of the documents earlier found at the Biden Penn Center, the Department of Justice was immediately informed of the discovery.”You’re gonna see, we’re gonna see all this unfold, I’m confident mmm-mmm-mmm, thank you very much. Thank you. Hey, how you doing? Good to see you!” Biden said, leaving the podium as journalists shouted questions about the classified papers at him. He briefly returned to answer a question about First Lady Jill Biden’s condition after having two cancerous lesions removed, but left again when asked further about the documents.
AmericasSnowden: Biden Seems to Have ‘Absconded’ With More Classified Docs Than Whistleblowers12:48 GMTThe admission comes after the president’s lawyers confirmed earlier in the day that they had found a second batch of classified documents at the president’s Wilmington home.
"Following the discovery of government documents at the Penn Biden Center in November 2022, and coordinating closely with the Department of Justice, the President's lawyers have searched [his] Wilmington and Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, residences – the other locations where files from his Vice Presidential office might have been shipped in the course of the 2017 transition. The lawyers completed this review last night. During the review, lawyers discovered among personal and political papers a small number of additional Obama-Biden Administration records with classified markings. All but one of these documents were found in storage space in the President's Wilmington residence garage. One document consisting of one page was discovered among stored materials in an adjacent room," White House Special Counsel Richard Sauber said in a statement Thursday.
Sauber assured that Biden’s lawyers “immediately notified” the Department of Justice of the discovery and arranged for their transfer, and vowed that the White House would “continue to cooperate with” the DoJ’s review.Classified documents were found at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement – a Biden-affiliated DC think tank, in late 2022, with media first revealing their existence this week. The papers reportedly included intelligence files related to Ukraine, Iran, and the UK, and were dated between 2013 and 2016, while Biden was serving as veep. Biden initially dodged questions on the files, and later expressed his “surprise” over the find, assuring he had no clue what was in the recovered files. The discovery of a second batch of files was reported on Wednesday, although no information on their location was initially provided.Former President Donald Trump, who has been raked over the coals by the White House, Democrats, and the media for having his own stash of classified government documents stored at his Florida estate after leaving office, sarcastically asked when the FBI would “raid the many homes of Joe Biden, perhaps even the White House,” similarly to how it had raided Trump’s Mar-a-Lago mansion in August of 2022.Commenting on Biden’s admission on Thursday, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said Congress must investigate the president’s alleged mishandling of the classified information. Earlier, GOP Congressman Paul Gosar told Sputnik that Republicans would most certainly have a look at the situation surrounding the files to determine whether the president had engaged in any criminal wrongdoing.
AmericasUS Congress Watchdog Opens Own Probe Into Biden Classified Papers LeakYesterday, 14:22 GMTNSA whistleblower Edward Snowden commented on the scandal surrounding the files Thursday, quipping that the president appears “to have absconded with more classified documents than many whistleblowers.” Snowden pointed out that Reality Winner, the former NSA translator who leaked a top secret intelligence report to media revealing that so-called Russian meddling in the US 2016 election was a sham, got five years in prison for the possession of a single document.”Meanwhile, Biden, Trump, [Hillary] Clinton, [David] Petraeus…these guys have dozens, hundreds” of classified papers, but face “no jail,” Snowden added. The former NSA contractor suggested the “real scandal” wasn’t that Biden had the classified documents, but that the Department of Justice seems to have “found out about it a week prior to the midterm elections and chose to suppress the story, conferring a partisan advantage.”
AmericasHouse Oversight’s New GOP Chair Asks Treasury, Twitter for Files on Hunter Biden Business DealsYesterday, 21:17 GMT
