Classified Documents Found in Second Location Associated With Biden

WASHINGTON — President Biden’s aides found a new batch of classified documents at a second location associated with Mr. Biden, according to a person familiar with the situation — the second disclosure in three days of his retention of government files dating from his vice presidency.

It is not clear where or when the documents were recovered. But Mr. Biden’s aides have been scouring various places since November, when his lawyers discovered a handful of classified documents, which included briefing materials on foreign countries, when they were closing a think tank office in Washington.

The discovery of the second batch was earlier reported by NBC News on Wednesday.

A White House spokesman and a member of Mr. Biden’s legal team did not immediately return requests for comment. A spokesman for the Justice Department declined to comment.

The new revelation is sure to intensify Republican attacks on Mr. Biden, who has called former President Donald J. Trump irresponsible for hoarding sensitive documents at his private club and residence in Florida. This week, the new Republican chairman of the House oversight committee issued a far-ranging request to the National Archives and Records Administration, which is supposed to receive all highly sensitive materials after an administration leaves office, for documents and correspondence.

On Tuesday, Mr. Biden told reporters in Mexico City that he was “surprised” to learn in November that his lawyers found classified government documents in his former office at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement.

He said his staff had fully cooperated with the National Archives and the Justice Department, which is examining the matter.

The documents that Mr. Biden’s lawyers voluntarily returned to the archives in November had not been logged as missing. It is not clear if the new material had been flagged by the archives.

A spokesman for the archives had no comment.

“After I was briefed about the discovery, I was surprised to learn that there are any government records that were taken to that office,” Mr. Biden said in Mexico.

“But I don’t know what’s in the documents,” he added.

The Justice Department review, undertaken by the Trump-appointed U.S. attorney in Chicago, is aimed at helping Attorney General Merrick B. Garland decide whether to appoint a special counsel, like the one investigating Mr. Trump’s failure to return all of the sensitive documents he kept at Mar-a-Lago, according to two people familiar with the matter.

Mr. Garland has been briefed on the inquiry, according to a person familiar with the situation, though it is unclear if he has made a decision.