Biden is ready to cooperate on secret documents found
2023.01.11 04:04
Biden is ready to cooperate on secret documents found
By Kristina Sobol
Budrigannews.com – On Tuesday, President Joe Biden stated that he was surprised to learn that classified documents had been discovered in an office he used for a think tank and that he and his staff are fully cooperating with an investigation into the incident.
At a joint news conference with the leaders of Mexico and Canada, Biden stated to reporters that he takes classified documents seriously. He claimed to be unaware of the contents of the documents.
Biden stated, “We are cooperating fully with the review, which I hope will be completed soon.”
Republicans have criticized Biden, a Democrat, following the Justice Department’s investigation into the way Republican former President Donald Trump handled classified documents found at his Palm Beach, Florida, Mar-a-Lago club last year.
There are numerous ways the cases differ.
In the think-tank’s office, Biden’s lawyers found fewer than a dozen classified documents. They reported their findings to the U.S. National Archives, turned over the documents, and stated that they would cooperate with the Archives and the Justice Department.
From mid-2017, when Biden finished his term as vice president for Democratic President Barack Obama, until the beginning of his 2020 presidential campaign, Biden used the think-tank office space on a regular basis.
In contrast, Trump kept thousands of government records, including a few hundred marked as classified, in his Florida home for more than a year after leaving the White House. Despite numerous requests from the National Archives, he did not return the records immediately or willingly.
The Archives discovered that more than one hundred of Trump’s 15 boxes of records were marked as classified when he finally handed them over in January 2022. The matter was later referred to the Justice Department.
Through a grand jury subpoena and a visit to his Mar-a-Lago estate, investigators attempted to get Trump to return any remaining classified documents. During that visit, Trump’s advisers confirmed that the residence no longer contained any classified documents and returned a few dozen more classified documents.
In August, the FBI sought and received court approval to search his Florida home on the suspicion of possible obstruction of justice. During the search, agents discovered more than 13,000 additional records, approximately 100 of which were highly classified.
In November, Special Counsel Jack Smith was appointed by U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland to investigate the situation.
The evidence that Trump or his associates knowingly and willfully retained the records and purposefully sought to obstruct the department’s investigation to get them back would be required by investigators to establish a crime.
In a letter, Republican House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence member Mike Turner requested “an immediate review and damage assessment” of the Biden documents case from U.S. Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines.
Turner stated in a statement on Tuesday, “This discovery of classified information would put President Biden in potential violation of laws protecting national security, including the Espionage Act and Presidential Records Act.”
In a statement, Representative Elise Stefanik, a close ally of President Trump and chair of the House Republican caucus, stated that the documents raised serious concerns regarding national security. She described how “the corrupt Biden DOJ covered it up for two months” when they were turned over to the National Archives just before the November midterm elections as “troubling.”
Biden defended how the documents were handled.
“In a box in a locked cabinet, or at least a closet, they discovered some documents. And as soon as they did, they realized that the box contained a number of classified documents. Additionally, they carried out the right thing. They called the Archives right away,” he said.
He stated, “I was briefed about this discovery and surprised to learn that any government records were taken there to that office, but I don’t know what’s in the documents.” He was unaware of the contents of the documents.
He stated that his attorneys have advised him not to inquire about the documents.
“We are fully cooperating with the review, which I hope will be finished soon, and I’ve handed over the boxes; they’ve handed over the boxes to the Archives. And at that time, there will be additional details,” he stated.
More Business Forum in Davos Switzerland promises a lot of guests
