The Biden administration did not seriously plan to go public with the news of President Joe Biden’s lawyers discovering classified documents in his possession, at least until the news was leaked elsewhere, The New York Times reported.
Hours after Biden’s classified documents were discovered at the Penn Biden Center on Nov. 2, the president’s personal attorney Bob Bauer and senior communications adviser Anita Dunn drafted a statement about the discovery, The New York Times reported, citing two people familiar with the situation.
Bauer and Dunn, however, “agreed that it would be made public only if someone else, like archives officials, disclosed it first,” according to the outlet.
Biden’s response team was committed to working with the National Archives and the Department of Justice (DOJ) in regards to the documents, but resisted “calls for greater disclosure,” The New York Times reported.
WASHINGTON, DC – JULY 22: Anita Dunn(L), senior advisor to President Joe Biden, and White House Deputy Director of Legislative Affairs Reema Dodin arrive for a lunch meeting with Senate Democrats at the U.S. Capitol on July 22, 2021 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
The Biden administration did not say anything to the public about the documents at the Penn Biden Center, or those discovered at Biden’s personal Delaware residence on Dec. 20, until the news was leaked by CBS on Jan. 9.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said that the press office did not know about the documents until CBS broke the news.
Additional classified documents were found by Biden’s lawyers at his Delaware house on Jan. 11 and Jan. 12, and on Jan. 20 after the DOJ conducted a consensual search of the property.
The DOJ did a second search on Feb. 1, but found no more documents. They did take “some materials and handwritten notes that appear to relate to his time as Vice President” for further review, Bauer said in a statement. (RELATED: DOJ Searches Biden’s Delaware Home For Second Time)
The White House Counsel did not immediately respond to an inquiry from the Daily Caller.