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The revelation is sure to intensify Republican attacks on the president, who has called former President Donald J. Trump irresponsible for hoarding sensitive documents at his estate in Florida.

President Biden’s aides found other classified documents dating from the Obama administration at a second location associated with Biden, according to a person familiar with the situation. Doug Mills/The New York Times

By Glenn Thrush, New York Times Service

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden’s aides found other classified documents dating from the Obama administration at a second location associated with Biden, according to a person familiar with the situation.

It is not clear where or when the documents were recovered. But Biden’s aides have been scouring various places since November, when his lawyers discovered a handful of classified documents, which included briefing materials on foreign countries, when they were closing a think tank office in Washington.

The discovery of the second batch was earlier reported by NBC News on Wednesday.

A White House spokesperson and a member of Biden’s legal team did not immediately return requests for comment. A spokesperson for the Justice Department declined to comment.

The new revelation is sure to intensify Republican attacks on Biden, who has called former President Donald Trump irresponsible for hoarding sensitive documents at his private club and residence in Florida. This week, the new Republican chair of the House oversight committee issued a far-ranging request to National Archives and Records Administration, which is supposed to receive all highly sensitive materials after an administration leaves office, for documents and correspondence.

On Tuesday, Biden told reporters in Mexico City that he was “surprised” to learn in November that his lawyers found classified government documents in his former office at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement.

He said his staff had fully cooperated with the National Archives and the Justice Department, which is examining the matter.

The documents that Biden’s lawyers voluntarily returned to the archives in November had not been logged as missing. It is not clear if the new material had been flagged by the archives.

A spokesperson for the archives had no comment.

“After I was briefed about the discovery, I was surprised to learn that there are any government records that were taken to that office,” Biden said in Mexico.

“But I don’t know what’s in the documents,” he added.

The Justice Department review, undertaken by the Trump-appointed U.S. attorney in Chicago, is aimed at helping Attorney General Merrick Garland decide whether to appoint a special counsel, like the one investigating Trump’s failure to return all of the sensitive documents he kept at Mar-a-Lago, according to two people familiar with the matter.

Garland has been briefed on the inquiry, according to a person familiar with the situation, though it is unclear if he has made a decision.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.



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