It’s not the best of times for Joe Biden, with two unpleasant pieces of news circulating over the weekend. Word first got around that his chief of staff, Ron Klain, wanted to give up his post in the White House. Then, on Saturday evening, it became known in Washington that the day before, further papers classified as secret had been found in the US President’s private home in Delaware.
Accordingly, investigators from the Justice Department again secured files at the Bidens’ property in Wilmington on Friday, including, according to his lawyer Bob Bauer, “six documents with classification notes and accompanying material”. They come from his time as a Senator and eight years as Vice President of Barack Obama. The investigators also took handwritten notes “for further examination,” says Bauer.
A close confidante of Biden for a long time: Chief of Staff Ron Klain.
(Photo: Nicholas Kamm/AFP)
In November and December, confidential documents had already been discovered in a former office of Biden, also in his house and in his garage, as was recently made public. Biden’s Attorney General Merrick Garland then appointed a special prosecutor. It is unclear what exactly has been confiscated so far. the Washington Post reports that some of the early finds were material on Iran.
Klain’s resignation comes at an awkward moment for the president
Biden was initially surprised. Then he said recently that “a handful of documents” had been found that had been “filed in the wrong place”. He fully cooperates with the authorities and has no regrets. The officials, apparently including FBI agents, searched his private home for almost 13 hours. They were given free access “in the interests of the fastest possible progress in the process,” as Biden’s attorney Bauer said.
The reference to cooperation and rapid clarification is intended to distinguish the case of Democrat Biden from that of his predecessor Donald Trump. Last summer, the FBI carried out a sensational raid on Republican Trump in Mar-a-Lago, Florida, where police officers took boxes with secret documents from his tenure as president. However, the New York Times now also with Biden that “the legal and political situation for the President has worsened dramatically”.
In addition, there is the alleged resignation of Ron Klain, his chief of staff and strategist since Biden took office two years ago. The veteran Klain, 61, helped the president in his early days as Obama’s deputy, later on in the campaign during the coronavirus pandemic, and then to find his way as a leader in the divided country. He had been an important man in previous governments.
U.S. media expect Klain to continue until Biden’s State of the Union address in the U.S. Congress on February 7. Jeff Zients, Biden’s pandemic manager, appears to be succeeding him. Such a change during a presidency is not unusual, but the upcoming castling hits Biden at a difficult moment for him. It is uncertain if and when the 80-year-old incumbent will announce his candidacy for 2024, probably in the spring.