The White House Counsel refused to say when President Joe Biden first was informed about the classified documents found at the Penn Biden Center, not responding to several inquiries after insisting that it has been nothing but “transparent.”
Biden’s lawyers discovered classified documents at the think tank on Nov. 2. More were found Dec. 20, Jan. 11 and Jan. 12 at Biden’s Delaware residence. The White House Counsel did not inform the public about the discoveries for over two months. The White House only chose to release a statement after a CBS published a report.
Reporters pressed White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on why the White House said nothing about the documents for over two months. Jean-Pierre said the White House Counsel did not inform the press office about the documents until CBS published its Jan. 9 report.
Biden has not spoken to the media for a week about the documents, ignoring reporters’ questions after admitting on Jan. 12 that he had kept documents next to his Corvette. He has walked quickly past the press on the South Lawn in silence. Jean-Pierre, meanwhile, has insisted that all questions about the documents go to the White House Counsel. (RELATED: More Classified Documents Found In Biden’s Garage, Next To His Corvette)
Biden arrives from Delaware, avoiding the press by walking farther away than usual.
Lots of questions about the classified docs remained unanswered.@DailyCaller pic.twitter.com/JluDf6vqKZ
— Diana Glebova (@DianaGlebova) January 16, 2023
The media blackout continues.
Biden surprised reporters by walking out of the WH really quickly.
Took no questions. pic.twitter.com/SQ1TxNERQf
— Diana Glebova (@DianaGlebova) January 19, 2023
The Daily Caller sent several inquires to the White House Counsel asking when Biden found out about the documents, and when he had planned to inform the public about the discovery.
White House Counsel deputy communications adviser Sharon Yang and senior adviser Ian Sams did not respond to the repeated inquiries.
Sams spoke to reporters on Tuesday on a Zoom call, insisting the process has been “transparent and informative.”
“We’re endeavoring to be as transparent and informative to you all, to the media, to the public as we can consistent with respecting the integrity of an ongoing Justice Department investigation — a Justice Department investigation that we’re being fully cooperative with,” Sams said, according to the New York Post.
Sams did not say how many documents were discovered or their contents, instead pointing reporters to the Department of Justice.
He said that the documents were discovered after Biden’s personal lawyers “were basically cleaning out the office to prepare to vacate it when they came across this.”
“I think it’s important to note this is the president of the United States and these are personal materials and his trusted aides were doing the work of cleaning out the office and so I think that that’s self explanatory,” he added.