Attorneys for President Joe Biden have been negotiating to have him interviewed by Special Counsel Robert Hur regarding his possession of classified documents before 2021, according to a report by NBC News issued on Friday.
Biden kept classified documents at his home in Delaware and at the offices of the University of Pennsylvania’s Penn Biden Center from his time as a senator and vice president, long after he had departed those offices and before his election as president. Following the appointment of a special counsel to probe criminal conduct, the investigators are now seeking an interview with Biden, leading to the attorneys’ negotiations, according to a report by NBC News. (RELATED: Special Counsel Investigating Biden Classified Docs Has Been Radio Silent For Nearly Six Months)
The discovery of classified information at Biden’s home and offices, over three searches between November 2022 and January 2023, prompted strong bipartisan criticism and followed the discovery of classified documents unlawfully stored by former President Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago as part of a criminal investigation by Special Counsel Jack Smith. Classified materials were also discovered at the Indiana home of former Vice President Mike Pence, though he has not been investigated.
.@pdoocy: “Classified materials next to your Corvette?
What were you thinking?”President Biden: “I’m going to get a chance to speak on all of this, god-willing, soon…My Corvette’s in a locked garage, okay? So, it’s not like they’re sitting out on the street…” pic.twitter.com/1gVvJo0dfH
— CSPAN (@cspan) January 12, 2023
“I don’t know what the hell is going on around here. It’s the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen,” said Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, the vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, to The Hill. “Clearly at the executive branch they’re just packing boxes,” he added.
In Biden’s possession were up to 30 classified documents at various classification levels, including those at the highest level — Top Secret//Sensitive Compartment Information (TS//SCI) — that were reportedly intelligence briefs about foreign adversaries, CNN reported. Some of the documents were found by Biden’s personal attorneys, who did not have security clearances to view them.
Some of the documents found at Biden’s Delaware home were found in his garage, adjacent to his personal Chevrolet Corvette.
Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Hur as special counsel to investigate Biden on Jan. 12, 2023. In his own case, Trump has been charged under the Espionage Act and faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted, according to his indictment in the case.
Apart from Biden himself, his Special Envoy for Iran, Rob Malley, has been suspended without pay since June 29 over alleged mishandling of classified information, which led to his security clearance being revoked.
The House Judiciary Committee has launched its own investigation into Biden’s possession of classified documents, which have since been removed from Biden’s possession.
No agreement has been reached, yet, regarding the date, venue or scope of an interview with Biden. Incumbent presidents have rarely provided testimony in person in criminal matters, with Trump having only provided written testimony to Special Counsel Robert Muller in 2019 during his investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
The Special Counsel’s office declined to comment.
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