Packaging was ‘not well done’ by staff

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Wednesday appeared to blame some of the blame for how classified documents ended up in his Delaware home and Washington office on staff who packed up the contents of his office as vice president.

“But one of the things that happened was that what wasn’t done right was that they didn’t do the job that they should have done, to thoroughly go through every piece of literature is there,” Biden said in an interview with PBS on Wednesday. “But I’ll let the investigation decide what happens. And we’ll see what happens.”

In November, classified documents were found in an office Biden had used between when he left office at the end of the Obama administration and when he launched his 2020 presidential campaign. became public in January, other documents were found at Biden’s home in Wilmington, Delaware.

The White House said the president is cooperating fully with the investigation into how the documents ended up outside of a secure location.

Attorney General Merrick Garland has since appointed a special counsel to investigate Biden’s handling of the documents.

The findings have created a political maelstrom for Biden, particularly after Democrats slammed former President Donald Trump for his possession of classified documents, hundreds of which were found at his Florida estate after the FBI executed a warrant. of search.

Republicans say the two men were treated differently, citing a search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate as evidence where a treasure trove of documents with sensitive marks was seized. Democrats argue there’s a key difference — Biden isn’t trying to hide documents and has been cooperating with authorities, while the FBI’s search of Trump’s estate in Florida came after months of efforts by the government to recover the material.

Biden reiterated that message in his interview on Wednesday, saying “no one had to threaten to do anything” and that he “voluntarily opened up every opening I have – home, offices, everything. , will come and watch and spend hours looking for my home, invited them.”