The US President had previously claimed Donald Trump was “totally irresponsible” for holding classified files at his residence
FILE PHOTO. US President Joe Biden. © Drew Angerer / Getty Images
The US Department of Justice is reportedly investigating the discovery of classified materials at a Washington DC think tank closely linked to President Joe Biden. Last August, the FBI raided the Florida home of former president Donald Trump, claiming he was improperly storing classified government documents there.
The discovery was made in early November at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement, an organization affiliated with the University of Pennsylvania, CBS News reported on Monday.
The “roughly 10” documents date back to the Barack Obama administration and originate from the office of the vice president at that time, Joe Biden, according to CBS. They were reportedly kept in a folder stored in a box alongside non-classified materials.
Biden’s attorneys found the papers and reportedly immediately informed the National Archives, with the agency taking possession of them the following morning, sources told the news outlet. Attorney General Merrick Garland has assigned US Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois John Lausch to conduct a preliminary investigation into the issue.
Sources said Biden was unaware of the contents of the documents found at the Penn Biden Center.
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Biden’s think tank was launched in 2018 and was staffed by many former Obama administration members, some of whom later transitioned to the incumbent’s team. Biden used the premises of the center from mid-2017 until the spring of 2019.
Last summer, a stand-off occurred between the federal government and former President Trump, when the FBI executed a search warrant at his private residence, Mar-a-Lago. Trump resisted requests by the National Archives to return documents that he was allegedly improperly holding. The FBI reportedly recovered some 300 files from Trump’s possession.
Commenting on the confrontation, Biden called Trump’s behavior “totally irresponsible.” Some Republican politicians argued that two cases were similar, when asked about the new development by CBS News.
“What’s the difference in what President Trump did versus what we now know President Biden did?” James Comer, the incoming House Oversight Committee chairman, asked.
