On January 9th, The White House Counsel’s Office announced that lawyers for President Joseph Biden discovered several pieces of classified documents at a D.C. Office from his time as Vice President. The news comes just weeks after the Department of Justice launched a criminal investigation into former President Donald Trump and his handling of classified documents found at his Mar-A-Lago resort in Florida. The lawyers reportedly immediately notified the National Archives – the agency tasked with storing government records – and within hours they arrived at the D.C. Office to retrieve the documents. While many have speculated that the documents may have landed there by accident, in this political climate, there is no room for a double standard. As a result, the National Archives referred the matter to the Department of Justice for further investigation, and Attorney General Merrick Garland assigned a Trump-appointed prosecutor from Chicago to review the case for any potential wrongdoing. 

According to CNN, some of the classified documents include matters relating to Ukraine, Iran and the U.K., among other intelligence markings, and under federal law, no document containing classified material may leave an approved governmental facility. While speaking at a North American Leaders Summit in Mexico City, President Biden responded to the matter for the first time, saying: “I was briefed about this discovery and surprised to learn that there are any government records that were taken to that office, but I don’t know what’s in the documents.”

In a later statement released by the White House Counsel’s Office, top lawyers for the Administration reiterated that the National Archives Administration was immediately notified upon discovery and affirmed the President’s personal lawyers are fully cooperating with the investigation.