First modification:
Joe Biden’s lawyer was in charge of releasing the news, who explained that the discovery was made in one of the president’s houses in Delaware. For its part, the White House reaffirmed the president’s commitment to dealing with sensitive documents.
Six new pages add to the discovery of classified documents that have been pointing to Joe Biden in recent days. The new writings found were immediately delivered to officials of the Department of Justice, DOJ, for its acronym in English.
One of the US president’s lawyers, Richard Sauber, stated that while facilitating the delivery of previously found papers, “another five documents with classified marks were discovered among the material (…) up to a total of six pages. The officials of the US DOJ who accompanied me immediately took possession of them,” Sauber said.
At another point, Richard Sauber noted that “specific details about the identified documents: how and where they were found” have been released publicly, while concluding: “as I said on Thursday, the White House will cooperate with the newly appointed special counsel.” .
The first findings occurred in November and after these the Biden team has placed them in the hands of the competent authorities. This Saturday is the third time in a week that the White House has to explain the discovery of classified material, compiled during his tenure as Vice President. In this sense, the administration’s press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, reaffirmed Joe Biden’s commitment to handling sensitive material.
“We take this very seriously. The president takes classified information, sensitive documents, very seriously”, stressed Jean Pierre.
For his part, the president responded last Thursday to a journalist’s inquiries on the subject. “It’s not like these are on the street,” he argued. “People know that I take documents and classified material seriously.”
Republicans on the offensive
This Friday, the Republican Party, in the House of Representatives, where they have the majority, began an investigation into the DOJ’s management of sensitive papers. Party members also questioned whether Hunter, the president’s son, had access to the material.
For their part, participants in the House Judiciary Committee addressed a letter to the attorney general, Merrick Garland, in which they demanded the documents found and the pertinent communications between the White House, the lawyers for the head of state and the FBI.
This Saturday, the chairman of the House Oversight Committee, James Comer, also a Republican, spoke. The official described the matter as “alarming”, for which he announced that his area would review the case. Comer added that the White House, the DOJ and the National Archives have not been transparent.
This was an expected reaction, after a similar event occurred with former President Donald Trump, now a candidate for re-election in 2024. Trump argued that a “witch hunt” was being carried out against him, after being the target of an investigation which led to the search of his residence in Florida by the FBI. However, in the case of the former president, hundreds of pages were accumulated, which were obtained after the aforementioned record, which was approved by the courts, for which reason Trump is facing an investigation for obstruction of justice.
With Reuters and EFE
