Classified documents found in Biden’s former private office

Richard Sauber, special counsel to the White House, said Monday that Biden’s personal attorneys found classified documents at Biden’s office at the Penn Biden Center. The attorneys found the documents on Nov. 2 in a locked closet as they were cleaning out the office, Sauber said. Biden had been using the office space after leaving the vice presidency, from mid-2017 until the beginning of his 2020 campaign. Biden’s personal attorneys immediately turned the documents over to the National Archives and have been cooperating with the National Archives and the Justice Department, Sauber said. 

What happens now? Attorney General Merrick Garland assigned U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois John Lausch to investigate, an anonymous source told major media outlets. Lausch is investigating how the documents got to the Penn Biden Center, after which Garland will determine whether further investigation is necessary. U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan, a Republican from Ohio who’s the incoming chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said he wants to know more about the documents before deciding whether the committee should investigate.

Dig deeper: Read Leo Briceno and Carolina Lumetta’s report in The Stew on the investigation of classified documents found in former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate.