Aides to President Biden discovered another batch of classified documents.
NBC News reported, citing people familiar with the matter, that the documents were found in a different location than the Washington office he used after leaving the Obama administration.
Earlier, the White House said on Monday that the U.S. Justice Department was Review of batch of potentially classified documents found in Washington office space Former Institute of the President.
Richard Sauber, the president’s special counsel, said a “small number of documents marked classified” were found to be Mr. Biden’s Private attorneys are cleaning out offices at the Biden Center in Pennsylvania.
Mr. Biden maintained an office there after he left the vice presidency in 2017 until shortly before he launched his 2020 presidential campaign in 2019.
Aides to the president have since been looking for any other classified material that may be at other locations he has used, according to the source, who requested anonymity to provide details about the ongoing investigation.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment. The Justice Department declined to comment.
The classification level, quantity and exact location of the additional documents were not yet known, according to NBC News.
It was unclear when the additional documents were discovered or whether the search for any other classified material that Mr. Biden may have obtained from the Obama administration had been completed.
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Aides to Mr. Biden have been sifting through documents stored at locations other than his former Washington office to determine if there are any other classified documents that need to be turned over to the National Archives and reviewed by the Justice Department, the sources said.
The search was described as exhaustive and aimed at gaining a complete picture of all classified documents that Biden may have inadvertently packed in boxes when he left the vice president’s office in January 2017.
Mr Sober said the original documents were found in a “locked closet” in the office on November 2 last year.
The lawyers immediately notified the White House Counsel’s Office, which notified the National Archives and Records Administration, which then took custody of the documents the next day, he added.
“Since this discovery, the President’s personal counsel has worked with the Archives and the Department of Justice to ensure that the Archives securely preserves any records of the Obama-Biden administration,” Mr. Sober said.
On Tuesday, Mr Biden told reporters he was “surprised” by the discovery and that he had no idea what was in the document.
For months, the Justice Department has been investigating the retention of about 300 classified documents recovered from Donald Trump’s Florida estate.
Prosecutors have interviewed a string of Mr. Trump’s associates and have been using a grand jury to hear evidence.
It was unclear when a decision would be made on whether charges should be brought against Trump or anyone else over the documents.