Second batch of classified Joe Biden documents discovered at new location

Published

2 years ago

January 12, 2023

admin

An additional batch of classified documents have been discovered by aides to President Joe Biden.

The papers were found in a location separate from the Washington office he used after leaving the Obama administration, NBC News reported, citing a source familiar with the matter.

It comes after the White House said on Monday that the US Justice Department was reviewing a batch of potentially classified documents found in the Washington office space of the president’s former institute.

Special counsel to the president, Richard Sauber, said “a small number of documents with classified markings” were discovered as Mr Biden’s personal lawyers were clearing out the offices of the Penn Biden Center.

Mr Biden had kept an office there after he left the vice presidency in 2017 until shortly before he launched his 2020 presidential campaign in 2019.

The president’s aides have since been searching for any additional classified materials that may be in other locations he used, according to the source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to provide details about the ongoing inquiry.

The White House did not return a request for comment. The Justice Department had no comment.

The classification level, number and precise location of the additional documents was not immediately clear, NBC News reported.

It also was not immediately clear when the additional documents were discovered and if the search for any other classified materials Mr Biden may have from the Obama administration is complete.

The source said that Mr Biden’s aides have been sifting through documents stored at locations beyond his former Washington office to determine if there are any other classified documents that need to be turned over to the National Archives and reviewed by the Justice Department.

The search was described as exhaustive, with the goal of getting a full accounting of all classified documents that may have inadvertently been packed in boxes when Biden cleared out of the vice president’s office space in January 2017.

The initial documents were found on 2 November last year in a “locked closet” in the office, Mr Sauber said.

He added that the lawyers immediately alerted the White House Counsel’s Office, which notified the National Archives and Records Administration and subsequently took custody of the documents the next day.

“Since that discovery, the president’s personal attorneys have cooperated with the Archives and the Department of Justice in a process to ensure that any Obama-Biden Administration records are appropriately in the possession of the Archives,” Mr Sauber said.

On Tuesday, Mr Biden told reporters that he was “surprised” by the discovery, and that he didn’t know what was in the documents.

For months, the Justice Department has been investigating the retention of roughly 300 classified documents that were recovered from the Florida estate of Donald Trump.

Prosecutors have interviewed an array of Mr Trump’s associates and have been using a grand jury to hear evidence.

It remains unclear when a decision will be made on whether Mr Trump, or anyone else, should be charged over the papers.

US

Donald Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’ has sparked ugly debate – so why is it so controversial?

Published

3 mins ago

July 2, 2025

admin

Donald Trump's 'big, beautiful bill' has sparked ugly debate - so why is it so controversial?

It is certainly big – 940 pages long – but on the question of beauty, Congress is divided.

Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” has sparked ugly debate – both for its ambitious scope and for the political manoeuvring that’s gone on around it.

Elon Musk branded it “political suicide” for Republicans and threatened to fund challenges against those who back it in next year’s midterm elections.

But the president hit back, suggesting he would consider cutting Musk’s lucrative government contracts or even deporting him back to South Africa.

The “big, beautiful bill”, or HR 1 to give the proposed legislation its proper title, is Mr Trump’s signature spending and tax policy.

It extends tax cuts he secured in 2017 and bankrolls his second-term agenda in the White House.

Here is a summary of the key points:

• Permanent tax cuts: Extending relief from the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act

• Small business support: Doubling the small business expensing limit to $2.5m (£1.8m) to help businesses expand and hire staff

• Child tax credit: Expanding the child tax credit and making it permanent, benefiting 40 million families

• Making housing affordable: Expanding the low-income housing tax credit to kickstart construction of affordable homes

• Defence and border security: Allocating $170bn (£123bn) for border security alone, including $46bn (£33bn) for completing the border wall

• Made-in-America incentives: Providing tax breaks and incentives for domestic manufacturing to promote US industry

• Healthcare and social welfare: Implementing restrictions on Medicaid, which provides healthcare for millions of Americans, and reducing funding for certain healthcare and nutrition programmes.

👉 Follow Trump100 on your podcast app 👈

Clash over ‘monster’ debt bill

Musk, Mr Trump’s former ally and the man who established the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), claimed the bill “raises the debt ceiling by $5trn, the biggest increase in history.”

“DOGE is the monster that might have to go back and eat Elon,” was President Trump’s response.

The national debt currently stands at $37trn (£27trn) and the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that the bill could add $2.4trn (£1.7trn) to that over the next decade.

Bill splits Republican ranks

Republican Senator Thom Tillis voted against the bill and, following criticism from the president, announced he would not seek re-election in North Carolina.

He said he couldn’t support it due to his concerns about the impact cuts to Medicaid would have on people in his state.

Democrats in the Senate forced a full reading of all 940 pages and then a vote-a-rama, a series of marathon voting sessions.

In the House of Representatives, it passed by a single vote, 215-214. In the Senate, Vice President JD Vance, had to cast the deciding vote to break a tie (50-50).

Legislatively, the progress of the bill has been a case study in the complexities of American law-making.

Strategically, it represents a mammoth effort to consolidate the president’s policy agenda and secure his legacy.

US

Gaza ceasefire proposal a significant moment – but there are still many unanswered questions

Published

3 mins ago

July 2, 2025

admin

Gaza ceasefire proposal a significant moment - but there are still many unanswered questions

In the long Gaza war, this is a significant moment.

For the people of Gaza, for the Israeli hostages and their families – this could be the moment it ends. But we have been here before, so many times.

The key question – will Hamas accept what Israel has agreed to: a 60-day ceasefire?

At the weekend, a source at the heart of the negotiations told me: “Both Hamas and Israel are refusing to budge from their position – Hamas wants the ceasefire to last until a permanent agreement is reached.

“Israel is opposed to this. At this point, only President Trump can break this deadlock.”

The source added: “Unless Trump pushes, we are in a stalemate.”

Israel-Gaza – live updates

The problem is that the announcement made now by Donald Trump – which is his social-media-summarised version of whatever Israel has actually agreed to – may just amount to Israel’s already-established position.

We don’t know the details and conditions attached to Israel’s proposals.

Would Israeli troops withdraw from Gaza? Totally? Or partially? How many Palestinian prisoners would they agree to release from Israel’s jails? And why only 60 days? Why not a total ceasefire? What are they asking of Hamas in return?

We just don’t know the answers to any of these questions, except one.

We do know why Israel wants a 60-day ceasefire, not a permanent one. It’s all about domestic politics.

If Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu were to agree now to a permanent ceasefire, the extreme right-wingers in his coalition would collapse his government.

Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich have both been clear about their desire for the war to continue. They hold the balance of power in Mr Netanyahu’s coalition.

If Mr Netanyahu instead agrees to just 60 days – which domestically he can sell as just a pause – then that may placate the extreme right-wingers for a few weeks until the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, is adjourned for the summer.

It is also no coincidence that the US president has called for Mr Netanyahu’s corruption trial to be scrapped.

Without the prospect of jail, Mr Netanyahu might be more willing to quit the war, safe in the knowledge that focus will not shift immediately to his own political and legal vulnerability.

US

What is ‘Alligator Alcatraz’?

Published

3 mins ago

July 2, 2025

admin

👉 Follow Trump100 on your podcast app 👈

Mark Stone and David Blevins unpick the latest development in Donald Trump’s mass deportation plan – a detention centre in the Florida Everglades nicknamed “Alligator Alcatraz”.

They also discuss the president’s “Big Beautiful Bill”, which has narrowly passed in the Senate. The legislation likely to define Trump’s second term is now one step closer to becoming law.

And there’s breaking news to digest on US weapons to Ukraine, as well as a potential ceasefire in Gaza.

If you’ve got a question you’d like the Trump100 team to answer, you can email it to trump100@sky.uk.

You can also watch all episodes on our YouTube channel.