US President Joe Biden was Vice President under then-President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2017.
DLNews Politics:
Things could get uncomfortable for the US President – his political opponents are getting new fodder...
At the beginning of the week, it became public that secret documents from his time as Vice President had been discovered in the office of US President Joe Biden (80). According to media reports, further government documents have now been found.
The papers were found by Biden employees searching his home in Wilmington, Delaware. Some of the documents were in a safe in Biden's garage. But, according to the broadcaster NBC, it is also a matter of secret papers.
The case became even more explosive on Thursday afternoon: Justice Minister Merrick Garland announced in a lightning PK that an independent special investigator should examine the papers!
Joe Biden and Barack Obama in Washington in 2016.
On Monday, the US broadcasters CBS and CNN, among others, reported that secret documents had been found in November when lawyers cleared out Biden's offices at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement in the US capital Washington. Biden was Vice President under then-President Barack Obama (61) from 2009 to 2017. After leaving office, the Democrat held an office at the Penn Biden Center, part of the University of Pennsylvania, from 2017 to 2019.
The confidential documents were handed over to the National Archives, a US media report citing the White House. The Justice Department is investigating the incident.
According to the broadcaster CNN, there are about a dozen documents, including papers with the highest level of confidentiality. However, the content of the documents remained unclear. They were stored together with personal records in a locked cupboard.
Biden commented on the find on Tuesday during a visit to Mexico City: He was "surprised to learn that there were government documents that were brought to this office," he said. However, the President added that he did not know the content of these documents.
"People know I take confidential documents and confidential information seriously," Biden said. However, he also stressed that the White House cooperates with post-discovery reviews.
The finds are explosive because ex-President Donald Trump (76) caused a scandal in the summer with a similar case.
Investigations are underway against ex-President Trump because he took secret government documents to his private estate after leaving the White House. As a result, Trump could have made himself liable for prosecution. The FBI searched the Florida property in August and confiscated various classified documents, some with the highest level of secrecy. However, it is still unclear whether Trump could ultimately be charged.
Trump keeps dismissing the whole thing as a "political witch hunt." And Biden called his predecessor's behavior "irresponsible."
After the documents found in the rooms used by Biden became known, Trump declared: “When will the FBI conduct a raid on Joe Biden’s many apartments, maybe even the White House? These documents were not released." Then, after the raid on his residence, Trump falsely claimed that the President of the United States could quickly "release" documents.
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