Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
DOJ Reviews Potentially Classified Documents at Biden Center
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 2 years ago on
January 10, 2023

Share

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department is reviewing a batch of potentially classified documents found in the Washington office space of President Joe Biden’s former institute, the White House said Monday.

Special counsel to the president Richard Sauber said “a small number of documents with classified markings” were discovered as Biden’s personal attorneys were clearing out the offices of the Penn Biden Center, where the president kept an office after he left the vice presidency in 2017 until shortly before he launched his 2020 presidential campaign in 2019. The documents were found on Nov. 2, 2022, in a “locked closet” in the office, Sauber said.

Sauber said the attorneys immediately alerted the White House Counsel’s office, who notified the National Archives and Records Administration — which took custody of the documents the next day.

“Since that discovery, the President’s personal attorneys have cooperated with the Archives and the Department of Justice in a process to ensure that any Obama-Biden Administration records are appropriately in the possession of the Archives,” Sauber said.

A person who is familiar with the matter but not authorized to discuss it publicly said Attorney General Merrick Garland asked U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois John Lausch to review the matter after the Archives referred the issue to the department. Lausch is one of the few U.S. attorneys to be held over from former President Donald Trump’s administration.

Irrespective of the Justice Department review, the revelation that Biden potentially mishandled classified or presidential records could prove to be a political headache for the president, who called Trump’s decision to keep hundreds of such records at his private club in Florida “irresponsible.”

Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress Weigh In

Trump weighed in Monday on his social media site, asking, “When is the FBI going to raid the many homes of Joe Biden, perhaps even the White House?”

The revelation comes as Republicans have taken control of the House of Representatives and are promising to launch widespread investigations of Biden’s administration.

It also may complicate the Justice Department’s consideration on whether to bring charges against Trump, who has launched a repeat bid for the White House in 2024 and has repeatedly claimed that the department’s inquiry of his own conduct amounted to “corruption.”

The National Archives did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday. Spokespeople for Garland and Lausch declined to comment.

Rep. James Comer, the new GOP chairman of the House Oversight Committee, said Monday that the revelation raised questions about the Justice Department’s handling of the Trump probe.

“Is the White House going to be raided tonight? Are they going to raid the Bidens?” he asked reporters. “This is further concern that there’s a two-tier justice system within the DOJ with how they treat Republicans versus Democrats, certainly how they treat the former president versus the current president.”

His Democratic counterpart, Rep. Jamie Raskin, said Biden’s attorneys “appear to have taken immediate and proper action.”

“I have confidence that the Attorney General took the appropriate steps to ensure the careful review of the circumstances surrounding the possession and discovery of these documents and make an impartial decision about any further action that may be needed,” he added.

Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, chair of the powerful House Judiciary Committee, said Monday that the American public deserved to know earlier about the revelation of classified documents.

“They knew about this a week before the election, maybe the American people should have known that,” Jordan told reporters. “They certainly knew about the raid on Mar-a-Lago 91 days before this election, but nice if on November 2, the country would have known that there were classified documents at the Biden Center.”

Jordan is among House Republicans pushing for the creation of a “select subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal government” within the Judiciary Committee.

Showdown Between Republicans and Prosecutors

Votes on creating that committee are expected as soon as this week, setting up a showdown between Republicans and the prosecutors leading various federal investigations, including the ones into Trump.

It wasn’t immediately clear why the White House didn’t disclose the discovery of the documents or the DOJ review sooner. CBS was first to report Monday on the discovery of the potentially classified documents.

The Justice Department for months has been investigating the retention of roughly 300 documents that were marked as classified and were recovered from the Trump’s Florida estate. In that instance, prosecutors say, representatives of Trump resisted requests to give back the full stash of classified documents and failed to fully comply with a subpoena that sought their return.

FBI agents in August served a search warrant at the Mar-a-Lago property, removing 33 boxes and containers.

That investigation is being led by special counsel Jack Smith. Prosecutors have interviewed an array of Trump associates and have been using a grand jury to hear evidence.

It is not clear when a decision when will be made on whether Trump, or anyone else, should be charged.

The think tank, formally known as the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement, is affiliated with the University of Pennsylvania and continues to operate independently of the Biden administration.

DON'T MISS

What Are Fresno Real Estate Experts Predicting for 2025 and Beyond?

DON'T MISS

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

DON'T MISS

LA Dodgers Pledge $1 Million to Support Families Impacted by ICE Raids

DON'T MISS

Pakistan to Nominate Trump for Nobel Peace Prize

DON'T MISS

Vance, in Los Angeles, Says Troops Need to Stay, Blasts Newsom Over Immigration

DON'T MISS

Nuclear Diplomacy Stuck, Israel Says It Killed Top Iran Commander

DON'T MISS

Mahmoud Khalil Vows to Resume Pro-Palestinian Activism After Release From US Jail

DON'T MISS

Trump Says He Wants to Fund More Trade Schools. Just Not These.

DON'T MISS

Two Days of Terror: How the Minnesota Shooter Evaded Police and Got Caught

DON'T MISS

B-2 Bombers Moving to Guam Amid Middle East Tensions, US Officials Say

DON'T MISS

Israeli Strike on Tehran Kills Bodyguard of Slain Hezbollah Chief

DON'T MISS

Bentley the Porch-Crasher Pup Hopes for a Forever Home

UP NEXT

Pakistan to Nominate Trump for Nobel Peace Prize

UP NEXT

Vance, in Los Angeles, Says Troops Need to Stay, Blasts Newsom Over Immigration

UP NEXT

Nuclear Diplomacy Stuck, Israel Says It Killed Top Iran Commander

UP NEXT

Mahmoud Khalil Vows to Resume Pro-Palestinian Activism After Release From US Jail

UP NEXT

Trump Says He Wants to Fund More Trade Schools. Just Not These.

UP NEXT

Two Days of Terror: How the Minnesota Shooter Evaded Police and Got Caught

UP NEXT

B-2 Bombers Moving to Guam Amid Middle East Tensions, US Officials Say

UP NEXT

Israeli Strike on Tehran Kills Bodyguard of Slain Hezbollah Chief

UP NEXT

Bentley the Porch-Crasher Pup Hopes for a Forever Home

UP NEXT

The Secret to Finding the Best Travel Bargains

Despite Clashes With US Presidents, Israel’s Netanyahu Usually Gets His Way

9 hours ago

Pope Leo Urges International Diplomacy to Prevent ‘Irreparable Abyss’

9 hours ago

Oil to Open Higher as US Strikes on Iran Boost Supply Risk Premium

9 hours ago

US Strikes Against Iran Not Aimed at Regime Change, Pentagon Chief Says

9 hours ago

US Bombing of Iran Started With a Fake-Out

9 hours ago

Pakistan Condemns Trump’s Bombing of Iran a Day After Nominating Him for Peace Prize

9 hours ago

World Awaits Iran’s Response After Trump Says US ‘Obliterates’ Nuclear Sites

9 hours ago

Mariska Hargitay Comes to Terms With a Lifetime of Family Secrets

10 hours ago

Mysterious Ancient Humans Now Have a Face

10 hours ago

World Leaders React to US Attack on Iran

22 hours ago

Advisory Warns of ‘Heightened Threat Environment’ in US After Iran Strikes

WASHINGTON  -An advisory from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security warned on Sunday of a “heightened threat environment in the Uni...

8 hours ago

A "No war on Iran" banner is held as people attend an anti-war demonstration in Los Angeles, California, U.S., June 21, 2025. (Reuters File)
8 hours ago

Advisory Warns of ‘Heightened Threat Environment’ in US After Iran Strikes

Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan meets with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi as they are flanked by Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and members of Turkish and Iranian delegations, during the 51st Session of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), in Istanbul, Turkey, June 21, 2025. (Reuters File)
8 hours ago

Muslim Countries to Set up Contact Group to Seek Israel-Iran De-Escalation

8 hours ago

Visalia Police Seek Public’s Help in Sexual Assault Investigation

President Donald Trump speaks as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu waves following a meeting in the White House, in Washington, U.S., April 7, 2025. (Reuters/Kevin Mohatt)
9 hours ago

Despite Clashes With US Presidents, Israel’s Netanyahu Usually Gets His Way

Pope Leo XIV holds a Jubilee audience on the occasion of the Jubilee of Sport, at St. Peter's Basilica, at the Vatican June 14, 2025. (Reuters File)
9 hours ago

Pope Leo Urges International Diplomacy to Prevent ‘Irreparable Abyss’

An oil tanker is being loaded at Saudi Aramco's Ras Tanura oil refinery and oil terminal in Saudi Arabia May 21, 2018. (Reuters File)
9 hours ago

Oil to Open Higher as US Strikes on Iran Boost Supply Risk Premium

U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth holds a briefing at the Pentagon, after the U.S. struck Iranian nuclear facilities, during the Israel-Iran conflict, in Arlington, Virginia, U.S., June 22, 2025 in this still image taken from handout video. Reuters TV/U.S. Department of Defense/Handout via REUTERS
9 hours ago

US Strikes Against Iran Not Aimed at Regime Change, Pentagon Chief Says

A satellite view shows an overview of Fordow underground complex, after the U.S. struck the underground nuclear facility, near Qom, Iran June 22, 2025. MAXAR TECHNOLOGIES/Handout via REUTERS
9 hours ago

US Bombing of Iran Started With a Fake-Out

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend