Donald Trump on Monday led the chorus of condemnation after it emerged that Joe Biden’s think tank had been found to contain classified documents.
The ten files were found in early November, by Biden’s lawyers, and handed over. The Justice Department has now opened an investigation, which The New York Times said could lead to a special counsel being appointed – as has happened in the case of Donald Trump and the hundreds of documents he kept at Mar-a-Lago.
Biden on Monday was in Mexico City for a meeting with President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, and refused to answer shouted questions as to how the documents ended up inside the offices.
Trump was among the many Republicans demanding answers, and pointing out that his own home was raided by the FBI for having classified documents stored there.
‘When is the FBI going to raid the many homes of Joe Biden, perhaps even the White House? These documents were definitely not declassified,’ he wrote on social media.
Joe Biden looks down at his briefing files on Monday in Mexico City, as a reporter yells a question about the classified documents found in the Washington DC offices of his think tank. Antony Blinken, the Secretary of State, looks up as the press pack is ushered out
Trump’s son, Donald Jr, also asked when Biden’s home would be raided.
‘When will the FBI’s Hostage Rescue Team storm one of Biden’s many vacation homes bought and paid for somehow by a lifetime of being a humble public servant?’ asked Trump Jr.
Ronny Jackson, the former White House doctor turned Texas congressman, said the news was ‘incredible’.
‘It’s just been discovered that Biden had HIGHLY CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS that were improperly stored in one of his private offices,’ he tweeted.
‘INCREDIBLE! WHERE is the FBI? WHERE is the dramatic raid? We have two systems of justice in this country: one for them and one for us.’
As the press in Mexico City was being ushered out of the meeting room, one reporter yelled out: ‘Mr President, any response to the discovery of classified documents?’
Biden, flanked by his Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, and the Attorney General Merrick Garland, did not respond to the question, which was shouted as a Mexican government official began thanking the visiting U.S. delegation.
Garland has asked the U.S. attorney in Chicago to review the 10 files discovered by Biden’s personal attorneys at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement.
The classified materials included some top-secret files with the ‘sensitive compartmented information’ designation, also known as SCI, which is used for highly sensitive information obtained from intelligence sources.
Biden has not yet commented on the news of the investigation into ten classified documents from his vice presidency, found in a Washington D.C. office for his think tank.
The White House special counsel said in a statement on Monday: ‘The White House is cooperating with the National Archives and the Department of Justice regarding the discovery of what appear to be Obama-Biden admin records, including a small number of documents with classified markings.’
The documents were located in November, six days before the midterms.
It is unclear what the classified documents contain, but follows the raid on Trump‘s Mar-a-Lago resort last year and comes as Republicans begin their investigations into the Biden family.
James Comer, the Republican congressman currently serving as chairman of the Oversight Committee, said late on Monday he would send a letter to the White House and National Archives looking for answers.
The House Judiciary GOP tweeted the news with warning sirens.
Conservative radio host Clay Travis said: ‘They just announced Joe Biden illegally kept classified documents from his vice-presidency in his possession.
‘I’m old enough to remember when the media told me this was impossible. So much for that Trump indictment. Between Hillary and now Biden, this story is over.’
Texas congressman Troy Nehls tweeted: ‘BREAKING: Classified documents from Joe Biden’s Vice Presidential days found at his private office. When will the FBI raid his home?’
Arizona congressman Andy Biggs said that Biden ‘stole’ the documents, and referenced an April report in The New York Post, which pointed out that the University of Pennsylvania – home of the Biden center – received donations from China.
‘Biden stole classified documents and stored them at his think tank while he was VP. The VP does not have any authority to declassify classified documents.
‘And this ‘think tank’ received $54 million in funding from the CCP.’
Jenna Ellis, who was part of Trump’s legal team trying to overturn the election, tweeted: ‘Biden’s DOJ is reviewing Biden’s classified docs? Maybe should *checks notes* consider a special master.’
Podcaster Steve Hilton, who served as an advisor to British former prime minister David Cameron, said that Biden’s actions were worse than Trump’s.
He did not say why, but vice presidents are not able to declassify documents – as presidents are.
‘Joe Biden’s theft of classified documents is clearly worse than anything Trump has been accused of,’ he said.
‘If Merrick Garland doesn’t pursue Biden with at least as much ferocity as he’s pursuing Trump, we’ll know that Equal Justice Under Law is dead: killed by hyper-partisan Democrats.’
Yet others insisted that Trump’s storage of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago was a more serious crime than Biden’s.
Dan Pfeiffer, a former senior advisor to Barack Obama, tweeted: ‘Team Biden found the documents, immediately contacted the archives, and returned them.
‘Trump and his lawyers repeatedly deceived authorities and did everything possible to avoid returning them.
‘These are not the same thing.’
Joyce Vance, a former federal prosecutor, agreed.
‘Big differences between this & Trump’s Mar-a-Lago situation: they were found in an office setting, not in Biden’s home,’ she said.
‘Biden’s team immediately volunteered news of the discovery to the Archives & turned them over immediately. It’s apples to oranges.’
The report stated that the documents were found while Biden’s attorneys were packing up the office to leave.
The files were said to be in a folder inside a locked closet in a box with other unclassified documents.
The CBS report states that Biden is unaware of the contents and there will now be a review how the documents got to the office a mile away from the White House.
The Presidential Records Act requires all president and vice-presidential documents be handed over to the National Archives when the term in office ends, so they can be kept secure.
After the discovery, the White House counsel’s office then notified the National Archives, which then took possession of the documents on November 3.
U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois John Lausch will now consider next steps, included whether a further investigation or a special counsel is needed.
Lausch is one of two U.S. Attorneys nominated by Trump. The other, Delaware U.S. Attorney David Weiss is in charge of the investigation into Hunter Biden.
Richard Sauber, special counsel to the president, told CBS: ‘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’.
In September, Biden was asked on 60 Minutes about the photo showing documents recovered at Mar-a-Lago during the FBI raid last August.
‘How that could possibly happen? How anyone could be that irresponsible,’ the president said. ‘And it just — totally irresponsible’.
More than 300 classified documents were recovered from Trump’s Palm Beach estate.
Biden used the office in D.C. from 2017 until he announced he was running for president in 2019.
It also used to be the home of his cabinet officials and closest aides.
Blinken was the center’s Managing Director in 2018 while top White House aide Steve Richetti was managing director in 2019.
Biden is on leave from the University of Pennsylvania after he was named a Benjamin Franklin Presidential Practice Professor in 2017.
He has been paid $917,643 for speeches and for heading the center, CBS reported.
His granddaughter Naomi, his late son Beau and daughter Ashley all got degrees there and his granddaughter Natalie is an undergraduate.
Source: dailymail.co.uk
