Classified Docs From Biden's Time as Vice President Uncovered at Private Office

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - Attorney General Merrick Garland tasked the US attorney in Chicago with a review of classified documents recovered from President Joe Biden’s office at a Washington-based think tank.

Citing two sources familiar with the inquiry, CBS News reported the federal prosecutor’s office is reviewing approximately 10 documents found by Biden’s personal attorneys at his vice-presidential office at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement.

The sensitive materials were reportedly found while the personal attorneys prepared to vacate the office space. The classified documents were said to have been located alongside other unclassified papers.

The documents were identified on November 2 and reported to the National Archives on the same day, the report said, adding that the National Archives took possession of the documents the next day and notified the Justice Department.

Garland tasked US Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois John Lausch, a nominee of former US President Donald Trump, with determining how the classified documents ended up at the think tank, the report added.

Lausch recently reportedly briefed Garland on the matter, with plans to submit a final report to the attorney general in the future. Lausch’s review is expected to wrap up shortly.

Biden was made aware of the classified documents in November and remains unaware of their contents, the report said. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence has also been informed of the inquiry.

In response to the report, White House Special Counsel Richard Sauber issued a statement indicating that the Biden White House is cooperating with the ongoing inquiry.

"The documents were discovered when the president's personal attorneys were packing files housed in a locked closet to prepare to vacate office space at the Penn Biden Center in Washington, D.C.," the release reads. "The president periodically used this space from mid-2017 until the start of the 2020 campaign."

Sauber further confirmed that the National Archives took possession of the documents the day after its discovery. "The documents were no the subject of any previous request or inquiry by the Archives," it added.

The inquiry comes following a raid on Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence last year as part of a probe into his post-presidential handling of classified documents. US courts have denied Trump’s attempts to block the use of the materials in federal probes against him, which he has condemned as a weaponization of the US justice system.