US President Joe Biden said Tuesday he was surprised when informed that government records were found by his attorneys at his former office space in Washington.
ADVERTISEMENTUS President Joe Biden said Tuesday he was surprised when informed that government records were found by his attorneys at his former office space in Washington.
Speaking to reporters in Mexico City, Biden said his attorneys “did what they should have done” when they immediately called the National Archives about the discovery at the offices of the Penn Biden Center. He kept an office there after he left the vice presidency in 2017 until shortly before he launched his presidential campaign in 2019.
The White House confirmed that the Department of Justice was reviewing “a small number of documents with classified markings" found at the office.
“I was briefed about this discovery and surprised to learn that there are any government records that were taken there to that office,” Biden said.
He added that “I don’t know what’s in the documents" and that his lawyers had suggested he not ask.
Earlier Tuesday, US Representative Mike Turner sent the request to Director of National Intelligence, Avril Haines, and said that Biden's retention of the documents had put him in “potential violation of laws protecting national security, including the Espionage Act and Presidential Records Act”.
Irrespective of a federal review, the revelation that Biden potentially mishandled classified or presidential records could prove to be a political headache for the president.
For more watch Euronews' report in the video above.