Biden Issues Statement Over Classified Document Scandal

President Joe Biden responded to the investigation into him Thursday over his handling of classified material by saying that he has “no regrets” over his actions.

Classified documents connected with Biden were first found in his private office at the Penn Biden Center, a think tank in Washington, D.C., on November 2, less than a week before the 2022 midterm elections. Since then, Biden’s attorneys have located more classified documents at Biden’s home in Wilmington on three separate occasions: an unspecified number found in the garage on December 20, one document found in Biden’s study on January 11, and five more found in the study on January 12.

“We’re fully cooperating, looking forward to getting this resolved quickly,” Biden said following remarks on the ongoing recovery efforts in California following recent storms. “I think you’re gonna find there’s nothing there. I have no regrets. I’m following what the lawyers have told me they want me to do — that’s exactly what we’re doing. There’s no there, there.”

Biden attacked the reporter who asked the question, saying that it “quite frankly bugs” him that the question was asked.

A reporter asks Biden a question about the classified docs: "What quite frankly bugs me is we have a serious problem here and the American people don't quite understand why you don't ask me questions about that" before adding he has "no regrets" about how he handled the docs. pic.twitter.com/rkV8eOiaPq

— Greg Price (@greg_price11) January 19, 2023

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed former U.S. Attorney Robert Hur — who served during the Trump administration — to serve as special counsel in the investigation after the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois John Lausch, who was assigned to do an initial review of the case, recommended to Garland that a special counsel be appointed.

The Department of Justice reportedly declined to assign FBI agents to monitor the search of Biden’s home under a mutual agreement reached with Biden’s personal attorneys. Department officials reportedly believed that FBI supervision would overly complicate the federal investigation into classified documents related to Biden, and that the supervision was unnecessary with Biden’s cooperation.

Tim Pearce contributed to this report.

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