Congress Republicans to Probe Biden's Mishandling of Classified Docs

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - Republicans in Congress will investigate President Joe Biden's mishandling of classified government records from his time as vice president under Barack Obama, Republican Congressman Paul Gosar told Sputnik on Thursday.

"Joe Biden stole classified documents and secretly hid them in his office while he was Vice President yet suddenly Democrats could care less. Negligently retaining classified documents is a felony punishable up to 10 years in prison. Republicans in Congress will investigate and see to it that Biden answers for his crimes," Gosar said in a statement.

Biden's lawyers found a second batch of classified documents from his vice presidency at a new location, a day after the president said he was "surprised" to learn about the first set of records discovered at his private office in Washington.

"I was briefed about this discovery and surprised to learn that there were any government records that were taken there to that office, but I don't know what's in the documents," Biden told reporters on Tuesday. "My lawyers have not suggested I ask what documents they were. I've turned over the boxes. they've turned over the boxes to the [National] Archives and we're cooperating fully, cooperating fully with the review and which I hope will be finished soon."

Biden's aides discovered the second trove of classified documents as part of an effort to search former Biden offices for other documents that need to be turned over to the National Archives and Justice Department, media reported on Wednesday.

It is unclear how many documents were found in the second batch, when or where they were discovered, the report added.

The first batch of documents was apparently discovered in November 2022, just days before the midterm elections in the US. Biden's lawyers found classified files while clearing space in his office at the Penn Center, a Washington-based think tank. The White House special counsel claimed they immediately contacted the US National Archives who forwarded the information to the Justice Department, however, the DOJ apparently chose to silence the story ahead of the midterms.

On Monday, media reported that US Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed a federal prosecutor to investigate how the classified materials ended up in the office.

The trove of classified documents included US intelligence memos and briefings on Ukraine, Iran and the UK dated between 2013 and 2016, according to media reports. Some of the files were labeled "Top Secret," with the "sensitive compartmented information" designation, also known as SCI, used for highly sensitive information obtained from US intelligence sources, the report added.

The records also contained materials related to the funeral arrangements for the president's son Beau Biden, the report said.