Report: Number of Classified Docs Found at Biden’s Office, Residence Amounts to 20
WASHINGTON (CBS/Reuters) – Total number of classified documents found at separate locations linked to U.S. President Joe Biden amounts to about 20, CBS news broadcaster reported, citing a U.S. law enforcement official familiar with the investigation.
Around 10 documents marked classified were discovered at the Penn Biden Center, a Washington-based think tank, and included top-secret material, the highest of the three levels of document classifications in the United States, the broadcaster said, citing the official.
Other classified papers were found at Biden’s residence in Wilmington, Delaware, making the total number of known documents roughly 20.
US Attorney General Merrick Garland said on Thursday that he concluded it is in the public interest to appoint a special counsel to investigate the alleged mishandling of classified government documents from the time Biden was vice president of the United States.
The documents were discovered by Biden’s personal attorneys while preparing to vacate office space at the Penn Biden Center, with a second batch of papers found later in the garage of the Biden residence in Wilmington.
Media reported that classified documents recovered from the think tank office covered topics related to Ukraine, Iran and the United Kingdom.
On Thursday, Congressman Paul Gosar told Sputnik that Republican lawmakers will investigate the matter as a serious felony, which is punishable with a prison sentence of up to 10 years.
Hunter Had Access?
Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives launched an investigation on Friday into the Justice Department’s handling of improperly stored classified documents possessed by Biden, and questioned whether his son, Hunter, had access to any.
In a Jan. 13 letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland, top Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee said the Justice Department’s appointment of Robert Hur as special counsel for the case this week raised “fundamental oversight questions.” They demanded all relevant documents and communications between the department, the FBI, the White House and Biden’s attorneys.
The letter came a day after Biden’s legal team acknowledged it had found classified documents relating to his time as vice president in the Obama administration at his Delaware home, including some in his garage. Aides previously found another batch of classified documents at his residence, and at a Washington think tank he was associated with.
Earlier on Friday, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer wrote to the White House asking whether Hunter Biden had access to classified documents found at the president’s private residence.
“It is unclear when the department first came to learn about the existence of these documents, and whether it actively concealed this information from the public on the eve of the 2022 elections,” House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan and fellow panel Republican Mike Johnson told Garland in their letter.