Joe Biden finds himself again confronted with the discovery of confidential documents in one of his family residences. “The Ministry of Justice has taken possession of documents (…) within the scope of his investigation, including six elements consisting of documents” classified, during a search carried out on Friday January 20 in the house owned by the American president in Wilmington, in the State of Delaware, indicated in a press release published on Saturday January 21 Bob Bauer, his personal lawyer.
Joe Biden’s counsel specifies that the files in question correspond to two phases of the political life of the 80-year-old Democrat: on the one hand his long career of more than thirty years as a senator from Delaware, and on the other hand his function as vice-president of Barack Obama, between 2009 and 2017.
Joe Biden and his wife were not present during the search. They were spending the weekend at their home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware as well. The US president’s personal attorneys previously searched the Rehoboth Beach residence and said they found no official documents or classified records.
Dropper revelations
Nevertheless, this new discovery, on Friday, adds to a series of revelations in dribs and drabs that put the White House in a very delicate position. Joe Biden, via his lawyers, already admitted on January 9 that confidential documents had been discovered from November 2022 in a think tank in Washington, where he had an office. Then the Democratic president acknowledged, on January 12, that other sensitive files had been found in his Wilmington home.
However, a 1978 law obliges American presidents and vice-presidents to send all their e-mails, letters and other working documents to the National Archives.
The case is particularly embarrassing for the American president, who plans to declare himself a candidate for the presidential election of 2024. He, during a trip to California a few days ago, attempted to play down the outcry over the discovery of these documents.
“Listen, we found some documents (…) which were stored in the wrong place, we immediately handed them over to the Archives and the Ministry of Justice”Joe Biden told reporters who asked him about it. ” I have no regrets “he had asserted.
Different from Donald Trump
His lawyers assure on the one hand that it is by “inadvertence” than the 46e President of the United States took away these sensitive files, and also emphasize that he cooperates fully with justice.
“From the start, the president has been committed to handling this responsibly because he takes this seriously,” said said Saturday, White House lawyer Richard Sauber. “The President’s attorneys and the White House Legal Counsel’s Office will continue to cooperate with the Justice Department and the Special Counsel to help ensure this process is conducted quickly and efficiently.”he added.
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. The billionaire is under investigation for having taken several boxes of official documents to his Florida residence.
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If the two cases are not entirely comparable, the subject is nevertheless perilous for Joe Biden, who presents himself as a rigorous and rule-abiding president.
In the case of Donald Trump as in that of Joe Biden, the Department of Justice, anxious to avoid any accusation of bias, entrusted the investigation of the confidential documents to special prosecutors.