Karine Jean-Pierre said six times last Thursday that the search for classified documents in Joe Biden’s personal belongings was “complete,” only for White House Counsel Richard Stauber to find five more that evening at the President’s home in Wilmington, Delaware , found.
President Biden and his administration have come under fire for not promptly and publicly disclosing the find of the classified materials — despite the ability to do so and while facing questions about the matter.
Jean-Pierre in particular was grilled over the lack of transparency in her daily press briefings. But now she faces questions about when she knew about the document discoveries and the information she provided in her press conferences.
As White House press secretary, Jean-Pierre is the face of government. Her briefings are designed to educate the public about the work of the Biden administration, but are also a time when the administration must be held accountable — over media issues — for its actions.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said six times last Thursday that the search for classified documents had been completed — only five others were found
Timeline of discovery of Biden documents and initial investigation
November 2: 10 classified documents were found at the Penn Biden Center, a think tank in Washington, DC, by President Joe Biden’s attorneys.
Nov 3: The National Archives were notified of the discovery
November 4: The Office of the Inspector General of the National Archives contacted a Justice Department prosecutor and informed him that classified material had been discovered at the Penn Biden Center. The documents were secured in an archive facility
November 8: 2022 midterm elections
Nov 9: The FBI began an evaluation to determine if classified material had been mishandled
November 14: Attorney General Merrick Garland hired US Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois John Lausch to determine whether a special counsel was needed
12/20: The President’s personal attorney tells Lausch that more classified documents were found in Biden’s garage in Wilmington, Delaware. The FBI seized these documents
January 5: Lausch advised Garland to appoint a special counsel
Jan. 9: The White House announces publicly classified documents from Biden’s time as vice president found in the office of his DC think tank
January 12: The President’s personal attorney informed Lausch that another document had been discovered at Biden’s home in Wilmington, Delaware
Jan. 12: The White House publicly announces that more classified documents have been found at Biden’s Wilmington home
Jan. 12: White House Counsel Richard Sauber travels to Biden’s home in Wilmington – finds five other classified documents
Jan. 14: The White House publicly releases the documents that Sauber found at Biden’s Wilmington home
The situation quickly escalates into a crisis for the White House. House Republicans have launched a series of investigations, and the Justice Department has appointed a special counsel to investigate the matter. Even some Democrats have scrambled to defend Biden, and Donald Trump, who faces his own probe into classified footage he had at Mar-a-Lago, has accused everyone of double standards.
The White House office said last week after Biden’s personal attorneys discovered the first tranche of classified documents in the shutdown of his DC think tank, its Wilmington and Rehoboth homes were raided for additional material.
“Lawyers completed this review last night,” Stauber said in a statement Thursday morning.
He announced that another classified document had been found in a room in Biden’s Wilmington home.
In her Thursday afternoon briefing, Jean-Pierre said the search for more classified documents had been completed six times.
Your statements on Thursday:
But Stauber, who has a security clearance, went to Biden’s Wilmington home this Thursday night and discovered five other classified documents in the papers there.
This discovery was only announced on Saturday morning.
“Because I have a security clearance, I drove to Wilmington Thursday night to facilitate the delivery of the document that the president’s personal attorney found Wednesday to the Justice Department,” Stauber said in a statement issued two days after the discovery of the documents was submitted.
“While handing it over to the DOJ officials accompanying me, five additional pages of classification markings were discovered among the accompanying material, for a total of six pages. The DOJ officials with me immediately took possession of them.’
Jean-Pierre also did not disclose the discovery of the documents when she informed the press on Friday January 13 – the day after they were found.
Faced with reporters again this week, she was asked if she knew about the documents during Friday’s briefing.
She said she shared what she was told by the White House Attorney’s Office.
“I spoke from this podium,” she replied at Tuesday’s press conference. ‘I repeated what the hell [White House] Council shared at that time.’
She was again harassed by CBS White House Correspondent Weijia Jiang, who asked her if she knew about the additional five documents when she spoke to the press on Friday afternoon.
“I literally just answered that question,” Jean-Pierre replied.
When Weijia said she didn’t hear the answer, Jean-Pierre said that “you’re not too far away” from the reporter who asked about it.
When the press office originally found out that Biden had classified documents in his personal possessions, Jean-Pierre told Weijia it was “when your team made a story.”
The CBS story about secret documents in Biden’s possession was released on January 9th. The White House publicly admitted Biden had the material after CBS published his article.
Jean-Pierre also got scathing with a reporter who asked if while he was in Wilmington last weekend, Biden searched his home to see if he had any more classified documents.
“Are you listening to the question you’re asking me?” she asked in response.
Joe Biden’s home in Wilmington, Delaware
In all, four classified materials were discovered: at the Penn-Biden Center, a think tank in Washington, DC; in Biden’s garage at his home in Wilmington, Delaware; a document discovered in his “personal library” in the same house, and then four other documents found in his home.
All date from Biden’s time as Vice President under Barack Obama, but the White House will not answer which topics the materials cover.
The government waited until January — well after November’s midterm elections on Nov. 8 — to announce documents found at Biden’s DC think tank on Nov. 4, four days before voters went to the polls.
The attorney’s office then made two more announcements in the days that followed — regarding documents found in Biden’s garage at his Wilmington home, and then a third document found in a room in that home.
On Saturday, the administration announced that five more pages of classified information were found in Biden’s Wilmington home.