US President Joe Biden admits classified document found at home

US Vice President Joe Biden acknowledges that a confidential paper was found at his home; a special counsel will look into the incident.

Following the discovery of a second batch of documents at the Delaware residence of the US President, US Attorney General Merrick Garland recently announced the appointment of a special counsel to look into Joe Biden's handling of secret materials.

US Vice President Joe Biden admitted earlier today that a classified paper from that period was discovered in his "personal library" at his residence in Wilmington, Delaware, along with other materials discovered in his garage.

According to Biden, who spoke to reporters at the White House, he is "cooperating fully and completely" with a Justice Department inquiry into how sensitive data and official documents ended up at his residence.

Biden did not specify when the most recent batch of documents were discovered, just that the evaluation of prospective storage facilities by his attorneys was finished on Wednesday night (last night NZ time). Attorneys discovered the first batch on November 2, just days before the midterm elections, but they didn't make that discovery public until Monday.

After Biden's private attorneys discovered the first documents, according to Richard Sauber, a special counsel to the president, they looked into further sites where information may have been transported following Biden's resignation as vice president in 2017.

The classified marks on a "limited number" of documents, one of which was discovered in a nearby room, were discovered in a storage area in Biden's garage in Wilmington, according to Sauber.

The White House merely stated that the search was finished on Wednesday night and did not specify when the subsequent search started or where the new papers were discovered (Thursday night NZ).

After the data were discovered, according to Sauber, the Agency of Justice was "immediately contacted," and department lawyers seized control of the materials.

Regardless of the outcome of the Justice Department investigation, Biden is experiencing political difficulties as a result of the revelation that he may have improperly handled classified or presidential records. Biden claimed that former President Donald Trump was "irresponsible" for keeping a large number of such records at his Florida country club.

The agency was looking at "a limited number of documents with classified markings" that were discovered at the Washington office, the White House said earlier this week.

According to the White House, Biden's attorneys found the documents at the Penn Biden Center's offices and promptly informed the National Archives of their finding.

After stepping down as vice president in 2017, Biden maintained an office there until just before he started his Democratic presidential campaign in 2019.

Hours after White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre sidestepped queries regarding Biden's handling of sensitive information and the West Wing's management of the finding, it was revealed that further classified documents had been found by Biden's team.

She had stated on Wednesday that the White House was dedicated to handle the situation in the "proper way," citing the prompt notice of the National Archives by Biden's private counsel.

She refused to disclose when Biden had his briefing, if there were any further secret materials that could have been discovered in other unauthorised locations, or the reason the White House took so long to announce the discovery of the initial batch of documents.

Days before the midterm elections, on November 2, they were discovered.

This is an ongoing procedure under the Department of Justice's examination, as my colleagues in the Counsel have said and told all of you yesterday, so we will be constrained in what we can say here, Jean-Pierre remarked.

The papers discovered at the Penn Biden Center are being examined by the Justice Department, and Attorney General Merrick Garland has requested that John Lausch, the US attorney in Chicago, assess the situation.

According to a person familiar with the situation, John Lausch, the US attorney in Chicago, has been instructed by Attorney General Merrick Garland to evaluate the papers that were discovered at the Penn Biden Center. The Justice Department is currently evaluating the documents. Additionally, they were not authorised to speak publicly about the situation, so they agreed to remain anonymous.

Lausch is one of the few remaining US attorneys from Trump's presidency.

Although Biden claimed he was "surprised to find that any federal papers were moved there to that office," his attorneys "did what they should have done" when they promptly phoned the National Archives.