DOJ Reviewing Classified Documents Found At Biden Center: The White House announced Monday that the Justice Department is investigating a collection of possibly sensitive documents discovered in the former institute of President Joe Biden’s office in Washington.
“A small number of documents with classified markings,” according to the special counsel to the president Richard Sauber, were found as Biden’s private attorneys were cleaning out the offices of the Penn Biden Center, where the president maintained an office from the time he left his vice presidency in 2017 until just before he started his 2020 presidential campaign in 2019. On November 2, 2022, the records were discovered in a “closed cupboard” in the workplace, according to Sauber.
The National Archives and Records Administration, which acquired ownership of the records the following day, was informed right away, according to Sauber, by the lawyers.
According to Sauber, “Since that discovery, the President’s attorneys have worked with the Archives and the Department of Justice to verify that any materials from the Obama-Biden Administration are in the Archives’ right hands.
Attorney General Merrick Garland requested U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois John Lausch to review the case after the Archives forwarded the matter to the department, according to a person with knowledge of the situation but who is not authorized to speak publicly about it. Lausch is one of the few remaining US attorneys from the tenure of former President Donald Trump.
Regardless of the outcome of the Justice Department investigation, the president may experience political difficulties due to the information that Biden may have mismanaged sensitive or presidential records. Trump has been criticized for keeping many such records at his Florida private club.
On Monday, Trump weighed in on social media, wondering when the FBI will raid Joe Biden’s numerous residences, possibly the White House.
Republicans have won control of the House of Representatives and have vowed to start extensive investigations into Biden’s administration due to the news.
Additionally, it might make the Justice Department’s decision about whether to charge Trump more difficult. Trump has declared his intention to run again for president in 2024 and has frequently said that the department’s investigation of his actions amounted to “corruption.”
A Monday comment request did not receive a prompt response from the National Archives. Garland and Lausch’s spokespeople declined to comment.
The disclosure sparked concerns about the Justice Department’s handling of the Trump investigation, according to Rep. James Comer, the incoming Republican chairman of the House Oversight Committee, who made the statement on Monday.
“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.”
Rep. Jamie Raskin, a member of his party, stated that Biden’s attorneys “appear to have taken swift and appropriate 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.
The influential House Judiciary Committee’s powerful leader, Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, stated on Monday that the American public deserved to be informed sooner about the disclosure of classified documents.
Jordan told reporters, “They knew about this a week before the election. Maybe the American people should have understood it.” They were aware of the Mar-a-Lago raid 91 days before the election, but it would have been good if the public had known on November 2 that there were secret documents at the Biden Center.
Jordan is one of the House Republicans urging the Judiciary Committee to establish a “special subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal government.”
Votes on establishing that committee are anticipated as early as this week, setting up a confrontation between Republicans and the federal investigators overseeing different investigations, including the ones against Trump.
Why the White House didn’t announce the finding of the documents or the DOJ review earlier was not immediately apparent. CBS first reported Monday’s discovery of the possibly sensitive documents.
Since several months ago, the Justice Department has been looking into the retention of some 300 sensitive documents found at Donald Trump’s Florida residence. Prosecutors claim that in one case, Trump’s representatives refused to hand over the entire cache of secret papers and disobeyed a subpoena that demanded their return.
33 cartons and containers were taken from the Mar-a-Lago resort by FBI officers who executed a search warrant there in August.
Jack Smith, a special counsel, is in charge of that probe. Numerous Trump associates have been questioned by prosecutors, who have also used a grand jury to hear testimony.
Yesterday, we lit the first-ever permanent White House menorah. This Hanukkah, let’s celebrate the rededication of ourselves to the spirit of resilience and unity. pic.twitter.com/DNhXaHAtle
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) December 20, 2022
Whether Trump or anybody else should be charged is unclear when a decision is made.
Formerly known as the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement, the think tank is connected to the University of Pennsylvania. It carries on its operations without interference from the Biden administration.
Nomaan Merchant, Eric Tucker, Farnoush Amiri of the Associated Press in Washington, and Michael Tarm in Chicago contributed.
On January 9, 2023, this tale was originally published. It was revised on January 10th, 2023, to reflect that the FBI took 33 crates and containers, not 15, during its raid on Mar-a-Lago in August. Follow Newswatchlist.com for more information. You can also leave your thoughts in the comment section, and don’t forget to bookmark our website.