President Joe Biden’s lawyers found five additional pages of classified material at the president’s home in Delaware this week, according to a statement on Saturday from the White House.
The New York Times reported that sources claimed that materials were discovered after the White House said on Thursday that only one piece of classified material was discovered in a storage area adjacent to Biden’s allegedly “locked” garage, where more classified documents were found.
“Because I have a security clearance, I went to Wilmington Thursday evening to facilitate providing the document the president’s personal counsel found on Wednesday to the Justice Department,” said Richard Sauber, special counsel to the president. “While I was transferring it to the DOJ officials who accompanied me, five additional pages with classification markings were discovered among the material with it, for a total of six pages. The DOJ officials with me immediately took possession of them.”
Federal law enforcement officials have reportedly interviewed numerous aides who worked for then-Vice President Biden during the final weeks of the Obama administration over how classified materials were handled that ended up at the Penn Biden Center and at Biden’s home.
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland announced Thursday that he appointed a special counsel to take over the investigation.
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.
“On January 5th, 2023, Mr. Lausch briefed me on the results of his initial investigation and advised me that further investigation by a special counsel was warranted. Based on Mr. Lausch’s initial investigation, I concluded that, under the special counsel regulations, it was in the public interest to appoint a special counsel,” Garland said. “In the days since, while Mr. Lausch continued the investigation, the department identified Mr. Hur for appointment as special counsel.”
The order signed by Garland said that Hur would investigate “the possible unauthorized removal and retention of classified documents or other records discovered.”
“The document authorizes him to investigate whether any person or entity violated the law in connection with this matter,” Garland said at the press conference. “The special counsel will not be subject to the day-to-day supervision of any official of the department, but he must comply with the regulations, procedures and policies of the department.”
The review began sometime after Biden’s personal attorney found 10 classified documents stashed in an envelope in the president’s private office at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement in Washington. The attorney discovered the envelope on November 2, though the discovery was not made public until earlier this week. The documents were immediately turned over to the National Archives for storage, Sauber said.
Sauber said in a statement that a review of Biden’s known offices, quarters, and other spaces turned up a second set of classified documents, these located at the president’s home in Wilmington, Delaware.
Tim Pearce contributed to this report.