Top Questions Biden Must Answer About Secret Files Found at Think Tank

The possession of President Joe Biden’s confidential files in an old private office has sparked an investigation by the Justice Department – and the threat of further investigations by the new Republican majority in the House of Representatives.

The White House confirmed Monday night that Biden’s personal attorneys found “a small number of documents with classified markings” during the November 2, 2022 eviction of the president’s old office at the Penn Biden Center.

They were found in a locked closet at the Washington, DC think tank, the statement revealed.

Republican lawmakers picked up the news, first reported by CBS, and new House Representative James Comer pointed to the big difference between the treatment of Biden and August’s FBI raid on Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago -Resort for the secret documents he took.

“Will the White House be searched tonight? Will they raid the Biden Center? I don’t know,” Comer told reporters Monday.

The office building that houses the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement where President Biden’s personal attorneys discovered several classified documents in November 2022

The Justice Department has reportedly tapped one of two Trump-appointed US attorneys who are still in office to investigate the files’ discovery.

Questions remain as to why the office was cleaned up so late in Biden’s tenure and how the news came out months later.

“They created this legal controversy to target Trump and now Trump and Biden are in the same legal boat,” Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch, told DailyMail.com.

‘How did the records get into these offices? Why were lawyers packing for him? That’s unusual. Who had access to these secret records?’

He added, “The other big issue is why was it hidden from American voters just before the election?”

How were the files found?

The files were found in Biden’s private office at the Penn Biden Center, a University of Pennsylvania-backed think tank, in early November by his personal attorneys.

Biden had used the premises as an office between 2017 and the start of his 2020 campaign, according to the White House.

“The documents were discovered as the president’s personal attorneys were packing files placed in a locked cabinet in preparation for the eviction of office space,” the statement said.

Biden’s attorneys notified the National Archives that same day and have been working with the federal government ever since.

How is that different from Trump?

The CBS report, which uncovered the story of Biden’s classified files holdings, was a far more muted outing than the early FBI raid on Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home on the morning of August 8.

But Biden’s White House statement makes it clear that he and his team have been cooperating with the relevant authorities.

President Biden has yet to comment on the matter, despite requests from reporters

In contrast, the Trump crackdown came after months of back-and-forth between the national archives, the Justice Department and Trump attorneys, who officials later revealed they believed the ex-president’s allies were untrue.

The President’s personal handling of the matter also differs from that of his predecessor. Biden dodged a question about files discovery during an event with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Tuesday.

However, Trump has criticized the investigation into his handling of classified documents as a “witch hunt” and has sought to use legal and public means to discredit them. He even berated the special counsel assigned to investigate his investigation, Jack Smith, and his family.

But Judicial Watch’s Tom Fitton argued that both the Biden and Trump document investigations could set a disturbing precedent for a commander-in-chief’s ownership of his White House records.

“I think you’re going to have to call it off at some point because you can’t take the legal position that the president has no right to manage his own records. That’s not the law,” Fitton told DailyMail.com.

Is this being investigated?

Multiple reports suggest the Justice Department has hired US Attorney John Lausch to review documents seized from Biden’s old office.

Lausch is one of two Trump-appointed US attorneys who remain in office. The other, US Attorney from Delaware David Weiss, is currently assigned to investigate the finances of the president’s son, Hunter Biden.

Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida was searched by the FBI in connection with documents he took when he left the White House

Meanwhile, the Republicans in the House of Representatives, with their new chamber majority, are also threatening to act quickly.

Superintendent Comer told reporters Monday night that he would send a letter to the National Archives and the White House Office to inquire about the documents.

And on Tuesday, the new House Intelligence Committee chairman, Mike Turner, asked for a national security “damage assessment” of the classified files.

Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner, a Democrat, called for a formal briefing on the matter.

What questions does Biden still have to answer?

President Joe Biden has remained silent on the matter, dodging reporters’ questions about the classified files until Tuesday.

But a number of Republican lawmakers have questioned the delay between discovering the documents and making the incident public.

GOP Rep. Don Bacon told reporters it appeared “political.”

Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton urged Biden to discuss what he knew about the documents and when “under oath” during an interview with DailyMail.com.