WASHINGTON (AP) Jan,11- President Joe Biden said Tuesday that he was surprised to learn that his lawyers had found government documents in his former Washington office that the Republican head of the House Intelligence Committee may have classified. He was questioned on the matter after requesting the U.S. Secret Service to conduct a “damage assessment” of a document.
Biden told reporters in Mexico City that his lawyers “did the right thing to do” when he immediately called the National Archives about the findings at the Penn-Biden Center office. After stepping down as Vice President in 2017, he held an office there until shortly before he launched his presidential campaign in 2019.
The White House has confirmed that the Justice Department is investigating “a small number of documents with classified markings” found in the office. Earlier Tuesday, Rep. Mike Turner sent a request to Director of National Intelligence Avril Haynes, saying that the preservation of Biden’s documents accuses him of “potential violations of the Espionage Act and laws protecting national security, including presidential records.” said it would expose. .
Revelations that Biden may have mishandled classified or presidential records, regardless of federal scrutiny, suggest former President Donald Trump keeps hundreds of such records in private clubs in Florida. He questioned calling the decision “irresponsible”.
On Tuesday, Rep. James Comer, the new Republican chairman of the House Oversight Committee, sent a letter to White House asking for copies of documents found in Biden’s office, notice of the find, and a list of people who may have had I sent it to the house office. Access to the office where they were found. The White House did not immediately respond to this request. Haynes agreed in September to conduct a “risk assessment” rather than a “damage assessment” of the Trump case.
There are significant differences between Trump and Biden’s situation, including the severity of the ongoing grand jury investigation into Mar-a-Lago. An intelligence risk assessment of Trump documents is said not only to classify seized records, but also to examine “potential risks to national security arising from the disclosure of relevant documents.”
Senator Mark Warner, the Democratic chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, called for the documents.
The president’s special counsel, Richard Sauber, said Monday that Biden’s lawyers notified the National Archives and Records Administration after they discovered the records. A person familiar with the matter but not authorized to discuss it publicly said Attorney General Merrick Garland has asked U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, John Rausch, to review the matter. , one of the few US lawyers held by the Trump administration.
The National Archives did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday.Spokespeople for Garland and Rausch declined to comment.
FBI agents issued a search warrant at the Mar-a-Lago property in August and removed 33 boxes and containers.
The investigation is led by Special Counsel Jack Smith. Prosecutors have questioned many of Trump’s associates and set up a grand jury to hear the evidence.
