Attorney General Merrick Garland announced Thursday he had appointed a special counsel to investigate how classified documents ended up at an office President Biden used at his namesake think tank in Washington, DC, and his home in Delaware.
Republicans called on Garland to name a special counsel to examine whether the Obama-era documents were mishandled by Biden following revelations this week that a box containing classified documents were discovered in a locked closet in an office the president used at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement on Nov. 2, just days before the midterm elections.
Then on Thursday, Biden, 80, confirmed reports that emerged Wednesday that more classified records were found in his Delaware home where he stores his prized Corvette.
“I also said we’re cooperating fully and completely with the Justice Department’s review. As part of that process, my lawyers reviewed other places where documents might — from my time as vice president — were stored and they finished the review last night. They discovered a small number of documents with classified markings in storage areas and file cabinets in my home and my personal library,” Biden told reporters on Thursday.
Garland had previously tapped the US Attorney in Chicago, John Lausch, to review the classified documents found at the Penn Biden Center.
In November, Garland named veteran prosecutor Jack Smith as special counsel to determine whether former President Donald Trump should face charges after classified documents recovered at his Florida resort in August.
“I think if you believe a special counsel is necessary to assure the public about the handling of classified documents by Donald Trump, you should apply a special counsel to the mishandling of classified documents by President Biden when he was vice president,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said Wednesday on Fox News.
Biden’s comments about the files came just after White House special counsel Richard Sauber released a statement about the discovery at the Rehoboth Beach home.
Sauber said in both instances, the Justice Department was notified, the sensitive documents were turned over and they continue to cooperate with the National Archives.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said “I think Congress has to investigate this.”
He noted that Biden had said Trump was “irresponsible” when boxes of classified documents were found during an FBI raid Aug. 8 at Mar-a-Lago, his home in Florida.
“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 in different locations,” McCarthy said.
