Last Updated on January 10, 2023
CNN is reporting that the recently discovered trove of classified documents dating back to President Biden’s vice-presidential tenure contain U.S. intelligence information relating to foreign governments, including the United Kingdom, Iran and Ukraine.
The documents — which were found in a former office of the Penn Biden Center in Washington D.C. on November 2 — were returned to the National Archives and other necessary authorities upon their discovery, reports have stated.
“The discovery of these documents was made by the President’s attorneys,” said special counsel to the president Richard Sauber. “The documents were not the subject of any previous request or inquiry by the Archives. 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.”
Attorney General Merrick Garland has received a preliminary report on the documents and has assigned the U.S. attorney in Chicago, John Lausch, to investigate further. Garland will make a determination regarding further investigation upon reviewing the report.
The attorney general made this move after receiving a referral from the National Archives and Records Administration.
Tucker on Biden hoarding classified documents: "It turns out Biden was doing exactly the same thing he accused Trump of doing. There's no question Merrick Garland will unleash one of his signature pre-dawn raids on the University of Pennsylvania." pic.twitter.com/uE112wQjxU
— American Firebrand (@AmFirebrand) January 10, 2023
CNN — quoting a source familiar with the matter — has reported that the trove of at least 10 documents includes U.S. intelligence memos and briefing materials that covered topics including Ukraine, Iran and the United Kingdom.
The documents were dated between 2013 and 2016 and were found in three or four boxes that also contained unclassified materials subject to the Presidential Records Act. They were discovered on November 2, just days before the midterm elections, though the news did not break until a report from CBS News on January 9.
The source told CNN that the Biden documents were discovered when a personal lawyer for the president was closing out an office building that belonged to the downtown D.C.-based Penn Biden Center, a think tank operated by Biden in conjunction with the University of Pennsylvania. While closing the office, the lawyer discovered a manilla folder marked “personal.”
Upon opening it, he found documents marked as classified and called NARA, CNN’s source said.
Merrick Garland will now decide what to do about the revelations as he pursues a similar investigation targeting former President Trump. Garland was part of the key decision-making in the FBI’s raid on Trump’s property in Mar-A-Lago, where armed agents took dozens of boxes from the property.
Trump has mocked Biden for the mishap and asked when the FBI will be conducting a similar raid on his properties. “When is the FBI going to raid the many homes of Joe Biden, perhaps even the White House? These documents were definitely not declassified,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post on Monday.
This is a developing story.