‘Top Secret’ Docs Among Cache of Reportedly 20 ‘Classified’ Biden Files
President Joe Biden responds to a reporters question after speaking about the economy in the South Court Auditorium in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, Thursday, Jan. 12, 2023, in Washington. 
US President Joe Biden has found himself drawn into a legal and political quagmire over his handling of classified government records hailing back to his time as US vice president, with Attorney General Merrick Garland appointing veteran prosecutor Robert Hur as a special counsel on Thursday to handle the investigation.To date, the total cache of documents known to be marked classified and discovered at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement and the Wilmington, Delaware, private residence of President Joe Biden numbers roughly 20, according to a source cited by US media. Some of the recovered papers were marked “top secret.” Approximately 10 documents bearing classified markings and dating back to Joe Biden’s tenure as vice president were retrieved by his attorneys at the Washington think tank with the University of Pennsylvania back in November, 2022. Biden used the office at the think tank during his time as a University of Pennsylvania professor, from mid-2017 until the start of his 2020 presidential campaign. Attorneys found the sensitive files in a locked closet and hours later turned them over to the National Archives. It was in this batch of documents that some were marked as belonging to the highest of the three basic levels of classification, according to a cited federal law enforcement source. While the first two levels are confidential, and secret, a leak of “top secret” information could be fraught with “exceptionally grave damage.”As for the cache uncovered at the Biden residence in Wilmington, Delaware, on December 20, 2022, fewer than 10 documents marked classified were reportedly found there. It was added that none of those files were marked “top secret.” The White House confirmed on January 12 that a second batch of records bearing classified markings had been found in the home of the 46th POTUS in Wilmington.
AmericasWhat is Known So Far About Classified Docs Found at Joe Biden’s Home & Former Office?Yesterday, 07:04 GMTAlso on Thursday, Attorney General Merrick Garland announced that he had appointed Special Counsel Robert Hur to oversee an investigation into “possible unauthorized removal and retention of classified documents or other records discovered at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement and the Wilmington, Delaware, private residence of President Joseph R. Biden Jr.” AG Garland added that Hur, former US attorney for Maryland, would receive “all the resources he needs to conduct his work.”
‘Mishandling’ of Classified Docs
Ohio Republican Congressman and newly appointed House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan has announced that he will examine both President Biden’s “mishandling” of classified documents and the Justice Department’s probe.”We are conducting oversight of the Justice Department’s actions with respect to former Vice President Biden’s mishandling of classified documents, including the apparently unauthorized possession of classified material at a Washington, D.C., private office and in the garage of his Wilmington, Delaware, residence,” Jim Jordan and Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La., wrote in a letter sent to AG Garland on January 13.According to Jordan, he will be looking into alleged an cover-up of information by the DOJ, considering that the first stash of documents at the Penn Biden Center was discovered just ahead of the 2022 midterm elections, but this only became public knowledge in January.“It is unclear when the Department first came to learn about the existence of these documents, and whether it actively concealed this information from the public on the eve of the 2022 elections,” Jordan wrote in the letter, cited by US media reports. He added that it was also unclear “what interactions, if any, the Department had with President Biden or his representatives about his mishandling of classified material.”Jim Jordan demanded that AG Garland turn over to the committee all documents relating to the investigation of the matter, and set the Justice Department a deadline of 5 PM on January 27 to comply with the request. © AP Photo / Jon ElswickThe letter from House Oversight Committee chairman Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., to Debra Steidel Wall, archivist of the United States, requesting, among other things, all documents and communications between the National Archives and Records Administration related to classified documents at the Penn Biden Center.
The letter from House Oversight Committee chairman Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., to Debra Steidel Wall, archivist of the United States, requesting, among other things, all documents and communications between the National Archives and Records Administration related to classified documents at the Penn Biden Center.Chairman of the House Oversight Committee Rep. James Comer (R., Ky.) has also launched an investigation, saying the panel was “concerned that President Biden has compromised sources and methods with his own mishandling of classified documents.” 
Sputnik ExplainsWho is Special Counsel Robert Hur, Leading Probe Into Biden’s Handling of Classified Docs?Yesterday, 09:00 GMT
