Biden Document Saga Heats Up as Democrats Raise Questions

The president’s personal lawyer said Saturday that documents with classified markings were found, after previous batches of documents dating back to his time as vice president had been reported on at the president’s Washington, D.C., office and Wilmington residence in recent weeks.

It was a “planned, consensual search” and an “unprecedented” top-to-bottom scouring of a sitting president’s personal home, Ian Sams, a spokesman for the White House counsel’s office, said Monday.

The White House, which has remained largely quiet on the discoveries while directing questions to the Justice Department, where a special counsel has been appointed to investigate the situation, had previously said that the searches of the president’s residence were complete.

Meanwhile in Congress, Republican lawmakers – who have been quick to point out how possession of the documents resembles former President Donald Trump’s handling of classified materials, which the Justice Department has likewise appointed a special counsel to look into – have called for congressional oversight of the document situation.

“It is troubling that classified documents have been improperly stored at the home of President Biden for at least six years, raising questions about who may have reviewed or had access to classified information,” House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer of Kentucky wrote in a letter to Biden’s chief of staff last week. The committee reiterated the calls on Monday, writing in a tweet that “Americans need answers now,” following the discovery of additional documents.

Accordingly, the White House released a letter to the House Oversight Committee, which has been seeking various documents. The letter, dated Monday, says the documents found at Biden’s home and at his office at the Penn Biden Center at the University of Pennsylvania are all in possession of the Justice Department and National Archives.

The White House is reviewing the committee’s other requests “with the goal of seeking to accommodate legitimate oversight interests within the committee’s jurisdiction while also respecting the separation of powers and the constitutional and statutory obligations of the executive branch generally and the White House in particular,” the letter said, in wording that suggested the GOP-led committee might not get everything it asks for.

For his part, Attorney General Merrick Garland in his first comments since the search defended its execution against charges of partisanship on Monday.

“We do not have different rules for Democrats or Republicans, different rules for the powerful or the powerless, different rules for the rich and for the poor, we apply the facts, and the law in each case in a neutral, non-partisan manner,” Garland reportedly told journalists during an appearance at DOJ headquarters. “That is what we always do.”

But even for Democrats, a number of unanswered questions remain.

“How many documents are we talking about? Dozens? A handful or hundreds? How serious are they? Why were they taken? Did anyone have access to them?” Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia asked on CBS’ “Face the Nation,” going on to say that “these are the reasons why this independent prosecutor and an investigation is necessary.”

Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, another Democrat, told CNN that “it’s unbelievable how this could happen,” following Friday’s search, calling the situation “totally irresponsible.” And the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, agreed when asked that Biden has lost the “high ground.”

“When that information is found, it diminishes the stature of any person who is in possession of it because it’s not supposed to happen,” Durbin told CNN on Sunday. “Whether it was the fault of a staffer or an attorney, it makes no difference – the elected official bears ultimate responsibility.”

Biden told reporters on Thursday that he had “no regrets” about how the situation has been communicated, adding that in respect to the investigation, “I think you’re going to find there’s nothing there.”