He specified that the files in question correspond to two phases of the political life of the 80-year-old Democrat: on the one hand, to his career of more than 30 years as a senator from Delaware, and on the other to his period as vice president of Barack Obama, from 2009 to 2017.
The search lasted more than 12 hours and included “all work, living and storage spaces in the home”Bauer said, the AFP news agency reported.
“The Department of Justice had full access to the President’s home, including personally handwritten notes, files, papers, folders, memorabilia, to-do lists, schedules, and reminders.”
A 1978 law, however, requires US presidents and vice presidents to send all their emails, letters and other working documents to the National Archives.
This new discovery adds to a series of small revelations in recent days that put the White House in a very delicate position. On January 9, Biden admitted through his lawyers that confidential documents had been discovered in November at a Washington think tank where he had an office.
By January 12, the Democratic leader had to accept that other confidential files had been found in his home in Wilmington, Delaware.
The case is especially sensitive for Biden, who is considering running for re-election in 2024. During a trip to California a few days ago, Biden tried to minimize the clamor surrounding the discovery of these documents.
“We found some documents (…) that were stored in the wrong place, we immediately turned them over to the Archives and the Department of Justice. We are fully cooperating and we hope to resolve this quickly,” he told reporters who asked him about this issue.
“I don’t regret it,” he said. His lawyers assure that it was “without realizing” that Biden took these sensitive files, and stress that he fully cooperates with justice.
The White House said earlier batches of documents were turned over to the Justice Department and to the National Archives as soon as they were found.
The objective of the White House is clear: to distinguish itself as much as possible from former President Donald Trump, who has already embarked on a new race for the White House and is being investigated for having brought several boxes of official documents to his residence in Florida and for his alleged obstruction of government efforts to recover them.
While the two cases are not entirely comparable, the issue is dangerous for Biden, who presents himself as a rigorous and rule-abiding president after the scandal-ridden years of Republican Trump’s presidency.
In both the Trump and Biden cases, the Justice Department, anxious to avoid any accusations of bias, entrusted the investigation of the confidential documents to two special prosecutors.
Source: Ambito
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