The new Republican-controlled Congress launched a probe into President Joe Biden on Tuesday after news broke this week that classified material from Biden’s time as vice president was discovered at a Biden think tank in Washington, D.C.
A source familiar with the matter told CNN that the 10 classified documents contain U.S. intelligence memos and briefing materials on Iran, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom, though it is unclear what exact information is contained.
“The Committee on Oversight and Accountability is investigating President Biden’s failure to return vice-presidential records — including highly classified documents — to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) in violation of the Presidential Records Act,” wrote Committee on Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer in a letter to White House Counsel Stuart Delery.
“Under the Biden Administration, the Department of Justice and NARA have made compliance with the Presidential Records Act a top priority,” the letter continued, an apparent reference to the criminal investigation into former President Donald Trump. “President Biden has claimed he was not going to ‘get myself in the middle of whether or not the Justice Department should move or not move on certain actions they could take.’”
“The Committee expects President Biden will receive equal treatment under the law given that he maintained classified documents in his unsecured office for several years with access to an unknown number of people,” Comer said. “President Biden and his son, Hunter Biden, also planned to share an office with an individual affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party, which raises questions about who else had access to these highly sensitive documents because of President Biden’s ‘totally irresponsible’ actions.”
Comer said that the White House had two weeks to provide the following documents and information to the Committee:
- All documents retrieved from President Biden’s personal office at the Penn Biden Center;
- All internal documents and communications regarding the documents retrieved from President Biden’s personal office at the Penn Biden Center;
- A list of all people who had access to President Biden’s personal office at the Penn Biden Center;
- All documents and communications related to the handling of the classified material by President Biden’s personal lawyers—including but not limited to their security clearance status; and
- All documents and communications between or among the White House and the Department of Justice or NARA regarding the documents retrieved from President Biden’s personal office at the Penn Biden Center.
