In his first public remarks on the case, Mr. Bauer said Biden’s personal attorneys had “tried to balance the importance of public transparency with established norms and limitations.” necessary to preserve the integrity of the investigation”.
“These considerations require avoiding public disclosure of the details of the ongoing investigation,” Bauer wrote.
White House advisers and President Biden also said that releasing more information risked affecting the investigation.
However, even President Biden’s closest allies questioned why the White House waited so long to go public regarding where misplaced classified documents were first found. They also questioned why when the White House counsel’s office first confirmed last week that some classified documents were discovered in President Biden’s office, the agency was not refers to documents that were later discovered at Mr Biden’s home in Wilmington, Delaware in December.
Former Democratic Senator Doug Jones, a close ally of President Biden, told CNN in an interview that the White House was troubled by its own mistakes.
Mr. Jones said that Biden’s attorneys responsible for handling the situation did “absolutely the right thing” to immediately notify the National Archives and Records Administration following discovering the number of classified documents. firstly. But when President Biden’s special counsel Richard Sauber released his first confirming statement last week, Jones said the White House had made a grave mistake.
“When you make a statement, when you know the truth, you have to make all of those things public and complete. But they were incomplete and incomplete. They talked regarding the first number of documents but not the number. second document even though they know regarding it,” Mr Jones said.
Late last week, Democratic Senator Debbie Stabenow said the discovery of classified documents was “certainly a shame” for the Biden administration.
“The Rock in the Way”
If confidential documents are misplaced to create new crisis for the Biden administrationthe sensitivities around the issue will prevent the White House from implementing the tool on its agenda.
Over the past week, White House officials have remained cautious when questioned regarding classified documents. After the first disclosure of documents in President Biden’s private room, the White House spoke to senior officials to explain the investigation, hoping to quell growing criticism and suspicions. the above incident. During the call, a White House official said the number of documents was less than 12 and none were “particularly sensitive” or related to the interests of intelligence agencies.
But just a day later, other classified documents were discovered at the second location, bringing the number of classified documents to 20 and making it difficult for White House officials to solve the problem without a view. overview of the event.
Democratic leaders in Congress say the White House has confirmed in conversations with allies that there are two areas of emphasis: The White House’s commitment to fully cooperate with the ongoing investigation. There are significant differences between classified documents discovered so far and classified documents discovered in former President Trump’s mansion at Mar-a-Lago, Florida.
Officials in the Biden administration acknowledge that the coming weeks and months will face challenges as they stand ahead of the special counsel’s investigation while continuing to push agendas amid the backdrop Mr. Biden seeks a second term.
In addition, other questions are also raised as to which officials will be summoned to testify and who will be blamed for the misplaced classified documents.
