Yahoo Autos 'Fairness and double standards': How Biden's classified documents debacle could become a political, legal liability
WASHINGTON – First, the discovery. Now, the fallout.
Revelations that classified documents going back to President Joe Biden’s years as vice president have been found in his private office in Washington and a garage at his home in Wilmington, Delaware, are threatening to become a political – and possible legal – liability for the president.
Biden said he was “surprised” to learn of the discovery of the records. He had branded his predecessor, Donald Trump, "irresponsible" for storing classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.
But Biden’s own handling of classified materials is now under scrutiny given the revelations that documents were stored at his private office and garage.
Here are four ways in which the documents debacle could become a headache for Biden:
‘Congress has to investigate this’
Emboldened by a new majority and armed with subpoena power, House Republicans were already gearing up for a series of investigations into the Biden family’s finances and Biden’s son Hunter.
The discovery of the classified documents opens up a new line of inquiry – one they are eager to exploit.
“I think Congress has to investigate this,” House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said Thursday.
“Here’s an individual that sat on ‘60 Minutes,’ that was so concerned about President Trump’s documents locked in behind, and now we find that this is a vice president keeping it for years out in the open for different locations,” McCarthy said.
The White House confirmed Monday that a number of classified documents from Biden’s years as vice president had been discovered in a box in a storage closet connected to a Washington office that Biden used prior to his presidential campaign. The documents were immediately turned over to the National Archives and Records Administration, the White House said.
On Thursday, the White House acknowledged that a second batch of classified documents discovered by aides was recovered from the garage of his home in Wilmington, Delaware. The new set of documents, described as small, were returned to the National Archives and the Justice Department was alerted, said Richard Sauber, a special counsel to the president.
President Joe Biden classified documents: What we know and how discovery compares to Trump
Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., the new chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, set things in motion for an investigation even before the White House disclosed the second batch of records had been found.
Comer sent a letter to the White House on Tuesday putting the administration on notice that his panel would be investigating what he called Biden’s “failure to return vice-presidential records – including highly classified documents.”
“The committee is concerned that President Biden has compromised sources and methods with his own mishandling of classified documents,” Comer wrote.
Another Republican-led committee is also demanding answers.
Rep. Mike Turner, the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, sent letters to Attorney General Merrick Garland and Avril Haines, director of national intelligence, requesting a classified briefing on Jan. 23 on the discovery of the records at the two Biden locations.
The presence of classified information at the two locations “could implicate the president in the mishandling, potential misuse and exposure of classified information,” Turner wrote.
Turner also questioned why Biden, as vice president, maintained custody of highly classified documents, who had access to them and for what purposes. “The question of further dissemination of these documents … must be fully examined,” he wrote.
In the Senate, Republican Sens. Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin demanded answers from Biden’s attorney, Richard Sauber, about the president’s compliance with federal records storage and archival requirements.
The GOP senators sent a letter to Sauber on Wednesday asking which documents were marked classified, why the office space was being vacated and a list of other locations where Biden may have stored records as vice president.
“In light of the recent news regarding the inappropriate storage of classified documents, the White House must immediately provide transparency relating to then-Vice President Biden’s archiving of records,” the senators said.
Classified documents: Attorney General Merrick Garland taps special counsel to probe Biden classified documents
