This discovery is one more twist in an already embarrassing case for the tenant of the White House. A law of 1978 obliges the American presidents and vice-presidents to transmit all of their emails, letters and other working documents in the national archives.
mo12345lemonde with AP and AFP
Joe Biden finds himself confronted with the discovery of confidential documents in one of his family residences. “The Ministry of Justice has taken possession of documents (…) coming within the framework of its investigation, including six elements made up of documents” classified, during a excavation carried out Friday, January 20 in the house that the American president owns Wilmington, in the state of Delaware (EST), said in a statement published on Saturday January 21 Bob Bauer, his personal lawyer.
The Council of Joe Biden specifies that the files in question correspond to two phases of the political life of the 80 -year -old Democrat: on the one hand his long career of more than 30 years as senator from Delaware, and on the other hand Its function as vice-president of Barack Obama, between 2009 and 2017.
Joe Biden and his wife were not present during the search. They spent the weekend at home in Rehoboth Beach, also in Delaware. The personal lawyers of the American president previously carried out a search in the residence of Rehoboth Beach and declared that they had found no official document or classified file.
revelations in the drop-down
Nevertheless, this new discovery, Friday, is added to a series of drop-down revelations that put the White House in a very delicate position. Joe Biden, via his lawyers, already admitted on January 9 that confidential documents had been discovered in November in a Washington reflection circle, where he had an office. Then the Democratic President recognized on January 12 that other sensitive files had been found in his house in Wilmington.
Now a 1978 law obliges American presidents and vice-presidents to transmit all of their emails, letters and other working documents in the National Archives.
The case is particularly embarrassing for the American president, who plans to declare himself candidate for the presidential election of 2024. He, during a trip to California a few days ago, tried to minimize the outcry around Discovery of these documents.
“Listen, we found some documents (…) which were stored in the wrong place, we immediately gave them to the archives and to the Ministry of Justice,” the American president told journalists who questioned him about this subject. “I have no regrets,” he had confused.
distinguished himself from Donald Trump
His lawyers assure on the one hand that it is by “inadvertentness” that the 46 e
é> president of the United States won these sensitive files, and underline on the other hand that he cooperates fully with justice.
“Since the start, the president has committed to managing this in a responsible manner because he takes this seriously,” said Blanche Maison, Richard Sauber on Saturday. “The lawyers of the president and the office of the legal adviser of the White House will continue to cooperate with the Ministry of Justice and the special advisor to help guarantee that this process takes place quickly and effectively,” he added.
The objective of the White House is clear: to distinguish himself as much as possible from former President Donald Trump, who has already embarked on a new race in the White House. The billionaire is under an investigation to have won in his Florida residence for several boxes of official documents.
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If the two cases are not entirely comparable, the subject is nevertheless perilous for Joe Biden, who presents himself as a rigorous president and respectful of the rules.
In the case of Donald Trump as in that of Joe Biden, the Ministry of Justice, anxious to avoid any accusation of bias, told the confidential documents to special prosecutors.