Second papers cache a crisis for Joe Biden

Joe Biden faced what might be the biggest crisis of his presidency on Friday when a special counsel was named to investigate how two batches of classified files came to be in his possession.

President Joe Biden fields media questions on the discovery of classified documents from his time as vice-president. Picture: Getty Images

Joe Biden faced what might be the biggest crisis of his presidency on Friday when a special counsel was named to investigate how two batches of classified files from his time as vice-president came to be in his possession.

The appointment of Robert Hur, a former US attorney appointed by Donald Trump in Maryland, came after the White House announced that a fresh cache of documents had been found in Mr Biden’s garage beside his car.

On Monday it was revealed by CBS News that at least 10 classified papers were found at an office in Washington used by Mr Biden, 80, after his term as vice-president ended in 2017. The office was at the Biden Centre, part of the University of Pennsylvania.

It is unclear exactly what was in the material, but reports indicate it may have included an intelligence briefing about Ukraine, Iran and the UK.

The case has the potential to be damaging as Mr Biden appears to be edging towards announcing that he will seek a second presidential term.

Merrick Garland, Mr Biden’s Attorney-General, said on Thursday night the “extraordinary circumstances” of the situation – investigating a sitting president – required him to take the extra step of naming an independent prosecutor. “This appointment underscores for the public the (Justice) Department’s commitment to both independence and accountability and particularly sensitive matters, and to making decisions indisputably guided only by the facts, and the law,” he said.

Another special counsel, Jack Smith, is investigating Mr Trump, 76, for apparently moving hundreds of classified files to Mar-a-Lago, his Florida home, after he left the White House in 2021. Mr Trump said in November that he would seek the presidency again next year.

Speaking at the White House on Thursday, ostensibly to hail economic data, Mr Biden was asked how the latest tranche of papers came to be found in a cabinet next to his sports car.

“I’ll get a chance to speak on all of this, God willing, soon,” he said. “By the way, my Corvette is in a locked garage so it’s not as though they are sitting in the street.”

Earlier, Richard Sauber, one of Mr Biden’s lawyers, confirmed the new documents had been at his home in Wilmington, Delaware. “During the review, the lawyers discovered among personal and political papers a small number of additional Obama-Biden administration records with classified markings,” he said.

“All but one of these documents were found in storage space in the President’s Wilmington residence garage. One document consisting of one page was discovered stored in an adjacent room.”

The statement added that the Justice Department had been informed immediately and arrangements had been made for officials to collect the papers.

During a trip to Mexico this week Mr Biden conceded he did not know how the original set of documents came to be at the university, or what was in them. The White House insists the President has acted transparently.

The first set of documents was discovered on November 2, six days before the midterm elections in which the Democrats outperformed expectations and held the Senate. The find was made public only when CBS News broke the news this week.

Republicans wasted little time in highlighting the action taken against Mr Trump last year.

“We’ve gone from: Biden declaring how careful he is with classified information, to whoops!, to (my) Corvette was locked! In just a few days,” Donald Trump Jr, the former president’s son, said on Truth Social, his father’s social media platform.

Lindsey Graham, a prominent Republican senator and member of the judiciary committee, called on Wednesday for Mr Garland to appoint a special counsel to investigate Mr Biden. “If you believe a special counsel is necessary to assure the public about the handling of classified documents by Donald Trump, you should apply a special counsel to the mishandling of classified documents by President Biden when he was vice-president,” he told Fox News.

In August the FBI raided Mar-a-Lago and found more than 300 classified files. MrTrump said the files were declassified during his time in office. He has pointed out only a president can declassify certain documents, a theme taken up by Trump-supporting congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, who tweeted: “Only Potus (president of the United States) can declassify docs, the VP cannot. Joe Biden was VP when he stole classified documents.”

The Times