Biden’s third strike after classified papers found at his private home

It was the latest in a series of revelations about the improper storage of documents dating from his time as vice-president.

Joe Biden makes his way to board Marine One before departing from the White House to Wilmington, Delaware, for the weekend. Picture: AFP

Five additional pages of classified material have been found at US President Joe Biden’s family home in Delaware, the White House said at the weekend.

It was the latest in a series of revelations about the improper storage of papers dating from Mr Biden’s time as Barack Obama’s vice-president. Mr Biden has said he had no intention of keeping any classified documents.

White House lawyer Richard Sauber said the latest papers were found after he visited the home on Thursday to oversee the transfer to the Justice Department of a first batch of documents found a day earlier in a room next to the home’s garage.

Mr Biden’s personal lawyers searching the garage at the home in Wilmington, Delaware – where the 80-year-old president often spends weekends – had found a document marked classified in the garage itself.

As these lawyers lacked the necessary security clearance to read it, they notified the Justice Department, Mr Sauber said.

A 1978 law obliges US presidents and vice-presidents to hand over their emails, letters and other official documents to the National Archives.

Mr Sauber said he did have the necessary security clearance, so he went to the Delaware house to check out the situation for himself. That was when he found the other five pages, he said. He said all documents were “immediately and voluntarily” handed to the Justice Department.

Others papers had been found on November 2 at Mr Biden’s former office at a Washington think tank, where he had offices after leaving the Obama White House. The president’s lawyers had also found “a small number of documents”, potentially confidential, on December 20 in the Wilmington garage, and alerted Justice.

On Thursday Attorney-General Merrick Garland named Robert Hur as an independent prosecutor to investigate Mr Biden’s handling of classified documents. The issue is an unwelcome distraction for Mr Biden as he prepares to announce whether he will seek a second term.

The disclosures have prompted comparisons to the case of former president Donald Trump, who is being investigated by a special counsel for storing hundreds of classified materials at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida and allegedly obstructing government efforts to retrieve them.

Republicans, newly in control of the House of Representatives, have vowed to launch an inquiry to be headed by James Comer, who chairs an oversight committee.

“The Biden White House’s secrecy in this matter is alarming. Equally alarming is the fact that Biden aides were combing through documents knowing there would be a Special Counsel appointed,” Mr Comer said.

“Many questions need to be answered but one thing is certain: oversight is coming,” he said, condemning what he called “President Biden’s three strikes against transparency”.

AFP