NBC Sources Say ‘Multiple’ Biden Aides Have Already Been Questioned By Feds Over Classified Docs
The White House
NBC News sources say that multiple aides to President Joe Biden have already been questioned about the classified documents issue by federal authorities.
Since news broke Monday that Biden’s lawyers discovered a small number of documents — from his time as VP — bearing classified markings while clearing out a private office last fall and immediately reported and returned the documents to the federal government, the story has become a media firestorm with each new development.
On Wednesday, it was revealed that Biden aides discovered more such documents at a second location, and on Thursday morning, the White House counsel released a statement with more details.
The president also made his first public comments on the matter Thursday morning when Fox News White House correspondent Peter Doocy shouted questions at the tail end of Biden’s remarks on the economy.
Later Thursday, Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the appointment of Special Counsel Robert Hur and revealed one more document was discovered.
And according to NBC’s Carol Lee and Mike Memoli, two “people familiar with the matter” say Biden aides have cooperated with the feds:
Multiple aides who worked for President Joe Biden in the final days of the Obama administration have been interviewed by federal law enforcement officials reviewing how classified documents ended up in his Delaware residence and a Washington office, according to two people familiar with the matter.
Kathy Chung, who was Biden’s executive assistant while he was vice president and helped pack up his vice presidential office in January 2017, is among those who have been interviewed, according to the sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing inquiry.
The purpose of the disclosure appears to be to cast the cooperation in a favorable light, given the quotes included:
One of the sources familiar with the interviews that have already taken place said those whom law enforcement officials asked to be interviewed complied “quickly.”
“The people who were boxing [up the vice presidential office] had no idea that there was anything in there that shouldn’t leave the White House,” the source said. “There was no decision made to take certain documents that should have been presidential records or classified.”
On Friday morning, President Biden welcomed Prime Minister Kishida Fumio of Japan to the White House for a bilateral meeting in the Oval Office, and did not respond to a frenzy of shouted questions, except to joke that the reporters should try not to hurt themselves.
