In a mounting political embarrassment for the White House, US Vice President Joe Biden’s aides have uncovered a new batch of classified government documents in second place.
The first stockpile was discovered in Mr. Biden’s private office in Washington, D.C., after his term as vice president.
The US Department of Justice is investigating the matter.
Former President Donald Trump is reportedly under investigation for misusing secret documents.
It was unclear as of Wednesday when or where Biden aides discovered the latest batch of papers.
The first set of perhaps ten documents was discovered in November at the Penn Biden Center, a think tank located near the White House, but was finally made public this week.
Reportedly, these documents contain US intelligence memoranda and briefing materials about Ukraine, Iran, and the United Kingdom.
It is unknown why they were found at a private office he began utilizing following his term as vice president under President Barack Obama.
The law restricts access to classified materials to individuals with special authorization and regulates their storage and maintenance.
All White House records, including secret ones, must be transferred to the US National Archives after an administration’s term.
The White House has not yet issued a statement regarding the freshly found batch. Nonetheless.
Karine Jean-Pierre, Biden’s press secretary, refused to address questions regarding the first batch of data during her daily news briefing on Wednesday.
She stated, “This is currently under consideration by the Department of Justice.” “I will not add to what the president stated yesterday.”
When asked why it took two months for the news to be made public. She declined to disclose when Mr. Biden had been briefed on it. The revelation occurred just days before the midterm elections for Congress.
Classified Biden docs found again.
Mr. Biden stated on Tuesday that he was “surprised” and was “cooperating” with the justice department’s investigation.
The debate arises as a newly elected Republican majority in the US House of Representatives scrutinizes the actions of the Democratic president.
James Comer, the incoming chairman of the House Oversight Committee, stated on Wednesday that oversight and accountability are on the horizon now that the Democrats no longer control Washington.
The committee is initiating an investigation into the president and his family. Including a request for the White House to hand over secret papers and communications.
According to the White House, Mr. Biden’s attorneys notified the archives as soon as they discovered the secret documents at the think tank, and the archives removed them the following morning.
In August of 2017, FBI investigators raided the Florida residence of Mr. Biden’s predecessor. And confiscated more than 10,000 files that Mr. Trump had failed to turn over to the National Archives.
Before the FBI arrived at Mar-a-Lago, the justice department issued a demand for the return of the classified documents.
More than 300 classified documents, including 18 tagged as top secret, were retrieved by federal officials from a Palm Beach golf club.
Legal experts dispute Mr. Trump’s claim that he had the authority as president to declassify the documents. As he has not explained their presence.
