Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach is demanding the White House “immediately cease meddling in the investigation” of classified documents improperly stored at President Biden’s Delaware home and his former office at the Penn Biden Center in Washington.
Mr. Kobach sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland accusing the White House and the Justice Department of failing to take steps to quickly secure the classified documents.
Mr. Kobach also questioned the Justice Department’s ability to “act independently” of President Biden, citing the department’s “permissive stance” that allowed administration lawyers to spend weeks searching for and handling additional classified documents after the initial discovery, even though some on the team did not have proper security clearances.
Earlier this month, Mr. Garland appointed a special counsel, Robert K. Hur, to investigate Mr. Biden’s possession and storage of classified documents from his tenure as vice president in the Obama administration.
Mr. Kobach said the U.S. attorney general must do more to prevent Mr. Biden from interfering with or applying pressure to the special counsel.
He cited public statements by the Biden press team and lawyers expressing confidence the probe will exonerate the president, as well as Mr. Biden’s own comments downplaying the discovery of the documents.
“To say there is little faith that the President or his Administration are being forthcoming on this issue is an understatement,” Mr. Kobach wrote to Mr. Garland.
Mr. Biden’s attorneys first discovered classified documents at the Penn Biden Center in November but did not publicly disclose the discovery until January. The lawyers have discovered additional documents in Mr. Biden’s Delaware home, including his garage.
The announcement prompted outrage among Republicans, who noted the documents were discovered before the midterm elections but the matter was kept quiet until January.
The discovery of the Biden documents coincided with the Justice Department’s criminal probe of former President Donald Trump’s storage of classified material at his Mar-a-Lago home in Palm Beach, Florida. Mr. Garland in November appointed a separate special counsel in that matter.
While federal law forbids the removal or retention of classified documents or materials outside secured locations without authorization, Mr. Trump as president had the authority to declassify any document, and said he did so with the material taken by the FBI.
Unlike Mr. Trump, Mr. Biden, with few exceptions, did not have the authority as vice president to declassify any classified material upon leaving office.
Mr. Kobach said the public is “owed an explanation” for a number of questions about the Biden classified documents, including when the Justice Department learned of their discovery and why it postponed announcing the discovery to the public.
Mr. Kobach also demanded to know what kind of classified material was discovered, why Mr. Biden chose to take the material when he left the White House in 2016 and what security protocols were used “to safeguard the illegally stored records.”
• Susan Ferrechio can be reached at sferrechio@washingtontimes.com.
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