McCarthy: Biden Must Have Had Previous Knowledge of Classified Docs

January 13, 2023 9:45 am

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., said that he suspects President Joe Biden knew he had classified documents stored at his home in Wilmington, Delaware, along with an office based in Washington, D.C.

“I think if you call a lawyer to remove something for your office, he must have known ahead of time,” McCarthy said Thursday during his first press conference as House speaker. “So, I think he has a lot of answers to the American public. The good thing about that is the American public has a Congress that can get the answers.”

On Thursday, Biden acknowledged that a document with a classified marking — dating back to his time as vice president — had been found in his personal library, along with other documents found in his garage.

Attorney General Merrick Garland said Biden’s lawyers informed the Justice Department of the discovery, after FBI agents first retrieved other documents from the garage in December.

It was disclosed Monday that sensitive documents were found at the office of Biden’s former institute in Washington (Penn Biden Center).

Garland appointed a special counsel on Thursday to investigate the presence of the documents.

“The extraordinary circumstances here require the appointment of a special counsel for this matter,” said Garland, while adding that Robert Hur has authorization to investigate whether any person or entity violated the law.

“This appointment underscores for the public the department’s commitment to both independence and accountability in particularly sensitive matters, and to making decisions indisputably guided only by the facts and the law,” added Garland.

Richard Sauber, special counsel to the president, said in a Monday statement that “Obama-Biden administration records, small number of documents with classified markings” were found on Nov. 2, 2022, while preparing for a move.

“The documents were discovered when the President’s personal attorneys were packing files housed in a locked closed to prepare to vacate office space at the Penn Biden Center in Washington, D.C.,” said Sauber.