The American justice found this week six additional confidential documents in the family residence of Joe Biden, one more twist in a case already very embarrassing for the American president.
“The Ministry of Justice has taken possession of documents (…) relevant to its investigation, including six elements consisting of documents” classified, during a search Friday in the house owned by the president in Wilmington, in the State of Delaware (east), said in a press release published Saturday Bob Bauer, his personal lawyer.
Joe Biden’s counsel 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 a senator from Delaware, and on the other hand, his function of vice-president of Barack Obama, between 2009 and 2017.
This new discovery adds to a series of revelations in dribs and drabs in recent days, which put the White House in a very delicate position.
Joe Biden, through his lawyers, already admitted on January 9 that confidential documents had been discovered as early as November in a think tank in Washington, where he had an office.
Then the Democratic president admitted on January 12 that other sensitive files had been found in his Wilmington home.
However, a 1978 law obliges American presidents and vice-presidents to send all their emails, letters and other working documents to the National Archives.
The case is particularly embarrassing for the American president, who plans to declare himself a candidate for the presidential election of 2024.
He, during a trip to California a few days ago, tried to minimize the outcry around the discovery of these documents.
“No regrets”
“Listen, we found some documents (…) that were stored in the wrong place, we immediately handed them over to the Archives and the Ministry of Justice”said the American president to journalists who questioned him on this subject.
“I have no regrets”he had asserted.
His lawyers assure on the one hand that it is by “inadvertence” that the 46th President of the United States took away these sensitive files, and emphasize on the other hand that he cooperates fully with justice.
The objective of the White House is clear: to distinguish itself as much as possible from former President Donald Trump, who has already embarked on a new race for the White House.
The billionaire is under investigation for having taken several boxes of official documents to his Florida residence.
If the two cases are not entirely comparable, the subject is nevertheless perilous for Joe Biden, who presents himself as a rigorous and rule-abiding president.