Biden lawyers reportedly find 2nd set of classified vice presidential documents in 2nd location

published 12 January 2023

Lawyers for President Biden, after discovering about 10 documents with classified markings in an office Biden used after his vice presidency, undertook an "exhaustive" search to see if any other classified documents inadvertently remained in Biden's possession — and they found some, in a second location, NBC News reported Wednesday, citing a "person familiar with the matter."

"The classification level, number, and precise location of the additional documents was not immediately clear," NBC News reports. "It also was not immediately clear when the additional documents were discovered and if the search for any other classified materials Biden may have from the Obama administration is complete." Attorney General Merrick Garland has asked a U.S. attorney appointed by former President Donald Trump to review the discoveries, and he will decide how to proceed after that review is complete.

Biden told reporters Tuesday he was "surprised to learn that there are any government records that were taken" to his former office at the Penn Biden Center think tank, he doesn't know which potentially classified documents his lawyers found in the office's locked closet on Nov. 2, and they "did what they should have done" by immediately contacting the National Archives and handing them over the next day. Legal analysts said Biden is unlikely to be in legal trouble, but the politics are bad given the ongoing investigation into hundreds of highly classified documents Trump took from the White House and refused to return when asked and subpoenaed.

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.

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