Classified documents that emerged at a Biden-aligned think tank last year reportedly featured intelligence on topics such as Iran, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom.
Ten documents were recovered at President Joe Biden’s private office at the think tank last November dated from 2013 to 2016 and are believed to have originated from his days as vice president, sources told CNN. The documents that bore classified markings were mixed with private materials, such as Beau Biden’s funeral arrangements, per the report.
CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS FROM BIDEN VICE PRESIDENCY SURFACE AT THINK TANK, SPARKING INQUIRY: REPORT
Biden declined to comment on the classified documents when pressed Tuesday morning, but Richard Sauber, special counsel to the president, argued in a statement released Monday that the president was complying with the proper authorities.
“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,” Sauber explained, noting that the material was not part of any “previous request or inquiry.”
Biden’s lawyers stumbled upon the material, which reportedly included “sensitive compartmented information,” when clearing Biden’s private office at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement in Washington, a foreign policy-bent think tank, on Nov. 2 of last year, about six days before the midterm elections.
The president used that space on occasion from 2017 until the start of his 2020 campaign, per CNN.
U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois John Lausch, a Trump appointee, has reportedly been tasked with investigating how the material wound up at the think tank. The revelations drew some comparisons with the documents found at former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort, but defenders of Biden stress that, unlike Trump, Biden relinquished the material without hassle.
Upon the discovery, Biden’s team turned over multiple boxes of material to the National Archives and Records Administration out of caution, sources told CNN. The classified material was in an envelope that had markings to suggest it belonged to Biden.
Prior to his presidency, Biden had an honorary professorship at the University of Pennsylvania, which was affiliated with the think tank. Presidents are required to transfer documents from their tenure to the National Archives after their White House departure in keeping with the Presidential Records Act.
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Trump is facing a review from the Justice Department about whether obstruction of justice or violations of the Espionage Act transpired after roughly 300 documents with classified markings were recovered from Mar-a-Lago. He has denied wrongdoing and, in a recent Truth Social post, asked when the FBI was going to raid Biden’s homes.
The inquiry surrounding Trump is being led by special counsel Jack Smith, who is also overseeing an investigation regarding the Jan. 6 Capitol riot and coinciding efforts to overturn the 2020 election. Smith was appointed after Trump announced his 2024 campaign in November last year.
