After finding the first documents in his former private offices, Biden’s employees have now found further secret documents.
(Photo: IMAGO/UPI Photo)
Washington After reports of a renewed discovery of government documents in connection with US President Joe Biden, the White House has not released any information. The papers were discovered by Biden employees searching a second location, several US media reported on Wednesday evening (local time), citing unnamed sources.
For Biden, the situation is politically extremely sensitive, because his predecessor Donald Trump caused a scandal in the summer with a similar case.
It was only made public on Monday that Biden had kept secret documents from his time as US Vice President Barack Obama in his private offices in the Penn Biden Center in the capital Washington. The documents were discovered in November shortly before the midterm elections. The media finally made this public. As a result, Biden employees searched other locations for government documents, the broadcaster CNN reported on the recent discovery. The second tranche was found.
On Wednesday, the White House dodged critical questions about the first find, citing ongoing investigations by the Justice Department. Spokeswoman Karina Jean-Pierre did not answer questions during a news conference about who brought the files to Biden’s office or whether other documents were found.
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She also gave no information about when Biden found out about the find and whether other documents were currently being sought elsewhere. The spokeswoman repeated during the press conference that she would not go beyond what Biden had already said about the case, as reported by the CNN broadcaster.
Exact classification of the secret documents found unclear
The first find in November reportedly included at least 10 classified papers, some of which were top-class classified. Biden responded with surprise at the find. He does not know who brought the documents there or what they contained. At the same time, the Democrat promised “full cooperation” in the investigations.
Biden had his offices at the Penn Biden Center in the US capital from 2017 to 2020, i.e. between his time as Vice President and President.
(Photo: AP)
According to the broadcaster NBC, the renewed finds are also classified documents. There are big differences in the classification of documents, writes the Washington Post in an analysis. It is not yet known which category the found documents belonged to, the newspaper said.
The lowest level is therefore “confidential”. This information could cause “damage to national security” if disclosed.
The next tier, according to the newspaper, is “classified” and flags documents that could cause “serious damage” to national security, such as significant military plans or intelligence operations.
The highest level is therefore “top secret”. It can be assumed that disclosure of these documents would cause “extraordinarily serious harm” to national security, according to the Washington Post.
In the US, government documents must be turned over to the National Archives
The situation is reminiscent of a scandal surrounding Biden’s predecessor Donald Trump, in whose private estate Mar-a-Lago several top-secret government documents were confiscated during an FBI search in the summer. Biden had sharply criticized Trump for this.
Still, the two cases had significant differences “that could go a long way in determining whether the Biden documents become a criminal matter,” the Washington Post wrote.
In the United States, government documents generally need to be archived and preserved for posterity. Security breaches are not uncommon, a legal expert told the Washington Post. How this is dealt with depends on how the person concerned behaves.
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In the case of Biden, his employees found the documents and voluntarily handed them over to the authorities, it said. In contrast, in the case of Trump, the National Archives tried for months to get papers from his tenure.
Although the ex-president’s lawyers finally handed over 38 documents, an FBI search found more than 100 additional documents. Had Trump handed the missing documents directly to the National Archives, the case would have been over, the newspaper’s lawyer said.
According to the newspaper, the investigations in connection with the documents found in Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate focused primarily on whether the Republican’s behavior had obstructed the authorities. So far, no such allegations have been made in the Bidens case – although the investigations are still at an early stage.
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