Classified documents found in office used by President Biden when he was vice president

Classified documents from the time when Joe Biden was serving as vice president have been discovered in an office, his lawyers have revealed.

Classified documents from the time when Joe Biden was serving as Barack Obama’s vice president have been found at a Washington think tank that Biden sometimes used as office space.

Lawyers for Mr Biden discovered the documents last November while clearing out the office space and handed them over to the National Archives, which handles all such materials, Mr Biden’s special counsel Richard Sauber said.

US President Joe Biden’s lawyers revealed the classified documents had been found. Picture: AFP

“The White House is co-operating with the National Archives and the Department of Justice,” Mr Sauber said in a statement.

Mr Sauber described it as “a small number of documents with classified markings” that were found at the Penn Biden Center, a think tank affiliated with the University of Pennsylvania. They were in a “locked closet” at the time.

“The documents were not the subject of any previous request or inquiry” and since handing them over, Mr Biden’s attorneys have also co-operated “to ensure that any Obama-Biden Administration records are appropriately in the possession of the Archives,” he said.

CBS News reported that Attorney General Merrick Garland has assigned the US attorney in Chicago to review the documents and that the FBI is also investigating. According to the report, about 10 documents are involved and an unidentified source familiar with them said none contain nuclear secrets.

This undated file photo shows a photo attached as evidence to a court filing by the US District Court Southern District of Florida, of documents allegedly seized at Mar-a-Lago spread over a carpet. Picture: AFP

In August, authorities searched ex-president Donald Trump’s residence at Mar-a-Lago after he failed to respond to repeated requests for co-operation on retrieving documents taken from the White House after his 2020 election loss.

The FBI found thousands of government documents, including more than 100 that were marked classified, and some marked top secret in the ex-president’s Florida club. Subjects covered in the documents reportedly included sensitive intelligence on China and Iran, and nuclear secrets.