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Aides toPresident Joe Bidenhave found a second batch of classified government documents in one of his former offices,NBC Newsreported Wednesday.
Citing someone familiar with the matter, NBC added that the documents were discovered in a location separate from his former Washington, DC. office, where an initial batch of documents wasfound in his former officeTuesday.
NBC added that the document search was exhaustive, as aides were looking for any Obama-era files that may have been packed in boxes when Biden left the office space in 2017.
On Friday, Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., tweeted the words “Special counsel” following the latest NBC revelations.
The White House did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment on the matter.
President Biden holds a ceremony to sign the Respect for Marriage Act.Ting Shen/Bloomberg via Getty
Biden said Tuesday that he was “surprised” to learn of the discovery of those documents, which were found locked in a closet in November at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement, per White House counsel. As Biden explained, his attorneys “did what they should have done” and turned over the “small number” of files.
“They immediately called the Archives, turned them over to the Archives, and I was briefed about this discovery and surprised to learn that there were any government records that were taken there to that office,” Biden said during a news conference in Mexico.
“I don’t know what’s in the documents, my lawyers have not suggested that I ask what documents they were,” added Biden. “I’ve turned over the boxes, they’ve turned over the boxes to the archives.”
“We’ve cooperated fully with the review, which I hope will be finished soon.”
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Garlandmay now appoint a special counselto further look into the finding of documents,The New York Timesreported, as Rep. James Comer — the new chair of the House Oversight Committee — told CNN he wouldsend a letterto the Archives about the matter.
“President Biden has been very critical of President Trump mistakenly taking classified documents to the residence or wherever and now it seems he may have done the same,” Comer said. “How ironic.”
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Biden’s first batch of discovered documents reportedlydid not contain nuclear secretslike those found at former PresidentDonald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago property in Florida. Instead, they included briefing materials about foreign countries from Biden’s time as vice president, sources toldThe Times.
“Since that discovery, the president’s personal attorneys have cooperated with the Archives and the Department of Justice in a process to ensure that any Obama-Biden Administration records are appropriately in the possession of the Archives,” Sauber said.
source: people.com
