In a mounting political embarrassment for the White House, US Vice President Joe Biden’s aides have uncovered a new batch of classified government documents in second place.
The first stockpile was discovered in Mr Biden’s private office in Washington, D.C., after his term as vice president.
The US Department of Justice is conducting an investigation into the situation.
Former President Donald Trump is reportedly under investigation for misusing secret documents.
It was unclear as of Wednesday when or where Biden aides discovered the latest batch of papers.
The first set of perhaps ten documents was discovered in November at the Penn Biden Center, a think tank located near the White House, but was finally made public this week.
Reportedly, these documents contain US intelligence memoranda and briefing materials pertaining to Ukraine, Iran, and the United Kingdom.
It is unknown why they were found at a private office he began utilising following his term as vice president under President Barack Obama.
Comparing the Biden and Trump secret file situations
The legislation restricts access to classified materials to individuals with specific authorization and regulates their storage and maintenance.
All White House records, including secret ones, must be transferred to the US National Archives at the conclusion of an administration’s term.
The White House has not yet issued a statement about the freshly found batch. Nonetheless, the discovery has been confirmed by BBC’s US partner CBS and other US media outlets.
Wednesday at her regular press conference, Biden’s press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre refused to address questions concerning the initial cache of files.
She stated, “This is currently under consideration by the Department of Justice.” “I will not add to what the president stated yesterday.”
She declined to disclose when Mr Biden was informed of the news when she was asked why it took two months for the news to be made public. The revelation occurred only days before the midterm elections for Congress.
