A trove of classified documents was discovered on Nov. 2 last year in Joe Biden’s former ‘think tank office’ at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement, which opened in 2018. .The discovery was only revealed on Monday, with questions being asked within the Republican party why the announcement was delayed until well after the mid-term elections on Nov. 8..According to CBS, Biden's personal attorneys discovered the documents while they "were packing files housed in a locked closet to prepare to vacate office space at the Penn Center in Washington, D.C.," special counsel to the president, Richard Sauber, said in a statement, adding the documents were turned in to the National Archives the following morning..The Washington Examiner explained the documents apparently were from Biden's time as vice-president for Barack Obama, so he would have had no executive privilege to declassify them..The Presidential Records Act requires presidential and vice-presidential records be turned over to the National Archives upon the end of an administration to preserve and protect the classified nature of the documents..CNN reports the classified documents include US intelligence memos and briefing materials that covered topics including Ukraine, Iran and the United Kingdom..After the discovery in November, US Attorney General Merrick Garland directed Chicago US Attorney John Lausch, ironically an appointee of former President Donald Trump, to review the materials, with an involvement by the FBI..It is unclear whether Garland learned of the documents before or after Nov. 18, when he appointed veteran prosecutor Jack Smith to serve as special counsel to investigate Trump’s handling of classified documents seized in an FBI raid on Trump’s home in August..Smith is also conducting separate probes of Trump’s effort to challenge the results of the 2020 election, citing a desire to insulate the probes from political pressure due to Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign..The discovery complicates Democratic efforts to push for criminal charges against Trump for allegedly mishandling classified documents removed from the White House and stored at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Fla..In the past, critics have questioned Biden’s role at the school, noting that the Ivy League college received US$54.6 million in donations from China from 2014 through June 2019, including $23.1 million in anonymous gifts starting in 2016, according to public records..Biden earned nearly $1 million from the University of Pennsylvania from 2017 to 2019, despite just nine reported public engagements with students. After becoming president, he nominated the university’s longtime president, Amy Gutmann, to be the US ambassador to Germany..Parallels were immediately drawn to the dispute over custody of some of the papers from Trump's presidency that were taken in the FBI SWAT-style raid on his home..The former president took to his Truth Social site when news of the documents emerged.."When is the FBI going to raid the many homes of Joe Biden, perhaps even the White House?" Trump posted.."These documents were definitely not declassified.".Trump rebuked Biden's ties to China.."Wow! The Biden Think Tank is funded by CHINA!!!" Trump added in his post. “Also, a V.P. cannot declassify documents, which are covered by the Federal Records Act, which is criminal, and MUCH TOUGHER than the Presidential Records Act, which is NOT criminal. A president, me, can declassify.”."How much more information has China been given? The amount was 54 Million Dollars that the Biden Think Tank received from China," he wrote. "That's a lot of money. They saw the classified documents!".After the FBI raid on Trump’s home in August, Biden appeared on "60 Minutes" in September and was asked about the documents recovered at Mar-a-Lago.."How could that possibly happen? How anyone could be that irresponsible," Biden told the CBS show..Garland resisted calls to appoint a special counsel to investigate the Biden family’s international business dealings, including Hunter Biden’s possible tax fraud and illegal foreign lobbying, even though Biden says he intends to seek a second term in 2024..Former President Donald Trump reacted to the breaking news Monday the Justice Department is reviewing classified documents tied to President Joe Biden that were discovered roughly a week before the 2022 midterms.."When is the FBI going to raid the many homes of Joe Biden, perhaps even the White House?" Trump posted on Truth Social. "These documents were definitely not declassified.".Trump added a rebuke of Biden's ties to China.
