President Biden defends taking home classified documents
President Biden defends taking home classified documents
The investigation into classified records from President Biden’s time as vice president discovered at the Penn Biden Center is at an "inflection point," Fox News has learned.
U.S. Attorney John Lausch of the Northern District of Illinois has been leading the investigation into the documents, which were discovered by the president’s personal attorneys on Nov. 2, 2022.
Fox News has learned that investigation has taken place over several weeks and that, as of today, the probe is at an inflection point.
The investigation into classified records from President Biden’s time as vice president discovered at the Penn Biden Center is at an "inflection point," Fox News has learned. (Ting Shen/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
A source told Fox News that the next steps in the matter are at the discretion of Attorney General Merrick Garland.
The revelations come after the White House on Monday evening revealed the discovery of the records by Biden’s attorneys in November. The attorneys found the documents in a locked closet while preparing to vacate office space at the center, which the president used from mid-2017 until he began the 2020 campaign.
White House Counsel Richard Sauber said Monday that the National Archives were notified of the findings and took possession of the documents on Nov. 3, 2022.
"The documents were not the subject of any previous request or inquiry by the Archives," Sauber said in a statement. "Since that discovery, the President's personal attorneys have cooperated with he Archives and the Department of Justice in process to ensure that any Obama-Biden Administration records are appropriately in the possession of the Archives."
Garland appointed Lausch to review the matter.
Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Lausch to review the issue of classified documents found at the Penn Biden Center. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
DEMS DEFEND BIDEN CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS HANDLING, CALL OUTRAGE 'REPUBLICAN HYPOCRISY'
On Tuesday, Ian Sams, a spokesman for the White House Counsel’s Office, told Fox News that this is "an ongoing process under review by the DOJ, so we are going to be limited in what we can say at this time."
"But we are committed to doing this the right way, and we will provide further details when and as appropriate," Sams said.
The Justice Department did not immediately respond to Fox News’ request for comment.
The discovery of the records comes just months after the FBI conducted an unprecedented raid on former President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home in Palm Beach, Florida, and seized classified documents.
Biden, at the time, slammed Trump for being "irresponsible."
The discovery of the records comes just months after the FBI conducted an unprecedented raid on former President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home in Palm Beach, Florida, and seized classified documents. (Reuters/Marco Bello)
Under the Presidential Records Act, all documents from a president's administration and staff must be turned over to the National Archives.
Jack Smith, a former assistant U.S. attorney and chief to the DOJ's public integrity section, was appointed as special counsel to investigate the records seized from Mar-a-Lago.
Former President Donald Trump (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images))
Trump, who launched his 2024 White House bid in November, told Fox News that he will not cooperate with that special counsel investigation.
HOUSE OVERSIGHT CHAIRMAN SAYS DISCOVERY OF BIDEN CLASSIFIED DOCS DISPLAYS 'TWO-TIER' JUSTICE SYSTEM
"When is the FBI going to raid the many homes of Joe Biden, perhaps even the White House?" Trump wrote on Truth Social on Monday. "These documents were definitely not declassified."
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Fox News' David Spunt, Bill Mears, Jake Gibson and Pat Ward contributed to this report.
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