Published on : 12/01/2023 – 03:08Modified : 12/01/2023 – 19:34
New classified documents have been discovered in the garage of the President of the United States’ private residence in Wilmington, Delaware, the White House announced Thursday. In the midst of the investigation into the shortcomings of his predecessor Donald Trump in the management of his presidential archives, the case embarrasses Joe Biden, who claims to “cooperate fully” with American justice.
“A small number” of confidential documents dating from the time of the vice-presidency of Joe Biden were found in the garage of his private residence in Wilmington, the White House said Thursday, January 12.
The President of the United States assured “fully cooperate” with American justice during a brief exchange with the press.
The Republican opposition was quick to react, its new leader in the House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy calling for the opening of a parliamentary inquiry. “Congress must investigate this case,” he told the press, denouncing “a new misstep by the Biden administration”.
A few hours later, the Minister of Justice, Merrick Garland, appointed a special prosecutor in charge of this sensitive case. “I signed a document appointing Robert Hur as a special prosecutor” which “authorizes him to investigate any person or entity who may have violated the law” in this case, he said during a short speech.
The president’s private residences inspected by his lawyers
Following the discovery of a dozen such documents in a former office of Joe Biden in Washington, his lawyers inspected his two private residences, where archives “could have been transferred during the 2017 transition”, said explained in a press release the lawyer of the presidency, Richard Sauber.
They found “a small number of additional documents dating from the Obama-Biden administration and classified as confidential,” which were in the garage of his home in Wilmington, Delaware, and in an adjoining room, he said. .
No documents were found at his residence in the seaside town of Rehoboth, in this east coast state, added Richard Sauber, noting that the Department of Justice was immediately notified to take possession of the files.
An ongoing investigation against Donald Trump
These revelations are embarrassing for the Democratic president, authorities have been investigating his Republican predecessor Donald Trump’s handling for months from his own presidential archives.
>> To read also: Search at Donald Trump: what the former American president risks
The federal police had carried out a spectacular search in August of the private club in Mar-a-Lago, Florida, where the billionaire has lived since his departure from the White House. The FBI had seized thousands of documents, including a hundred classified defense secrets.
A 1978 law obliges American presidents and vice-presidents to transmit all their e-mails, letters and other working documents to the National Archives.
With AFP