Biden Penn
© AP/KJNUS President Joe Biden • Penn Biden Center, University of Pennsylvania
President Biden's former assistant contradicted White House claims that classified documents discovered at Biden's post-vice presidency DC office this past November were in a "locked closet" — and revealed the White House sought to quietly retrieve the papers, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer said Tuesday.

Comer (R-Ky.) added in a statement that Chung, who sat for an interview with the panel, "provided startling information that undermines the Biden White House's narrative on the matter."
"Today we learned that when Joe Biden left the vice presidency, boxes containing classified documents, vice presidential records, and other items were stored in three different locations around the Washington, DC, area, including an office near the White House, an office in Chinatown, and eventually the Penn Biden Center.

"At some point, the boxes containing classified materials were transported by personal vehicles to an office location.

"The boxes were not in a 'locked closet' at the Penn Biden Center and remained accessible to Penn Biden employees as well as potentially others with access to the office space. We need to find out who had access to these documents."
The Penn Biden Center was set up by the University of Pennsylvania after Biden left the vice presidency in 2017. Its offices at the foot of Capitol Hill came with scenic views and much of the office space was partitioned by glass walls, according to photos available online.

Comer said Chung's testimony also revealed a previously unknown detail: That then-White House Counsel Dana Remus sought to recover documents from the Penn Biden Center office in May 2022, months before the reported early November discovery of the records by the president's lawyers.

Comer said:
"This story does not begin in November 2022, as represented by President Biden's attorney. In the coming days, the Oversight Committee will follow up with persons of interest in this investigation."
Comer made the revelations just hours after former President Donald Trump pleaded not guilty to 34 New York state charges of falsifying business records when he paid hush money to two women alleging affairs during the 2016 campaign. The case is the first time in US history that a former president was charged with a crime — a precedent that Republicans say Biden and his Democratic allies may come to regret.

Special counsel Robert Hur is already investigating whether Biden or anyone in his orbit illegally mishandled classified records.

A separate special counsel, Jack Smith, is investigating whether Trump mishandled records after leaving office in 2021. Secret Service agents who guarded Trump reportedly will testify to a grand jury later this week.

Biden's lawyers say they initially found classified documents on Nov. 2 while clearing out his former office at the Penn Biden Center. Some of them reportedly were marked "top secret" and pertained to Iran and Ukraine.

The discovery — just six days before the midterm elections — was kept quiet, even though Trump's alleged mishandling of records was a major election issue following an Aug. 8 FBI raid of his Mar-a-Lago resort.

Additional classified documents were found on Dec. 20 in Biden's Wilmington garage, followed by a series of additional discoveries at the home — including by the FBI, which also searched Biden's Rehoboth Beach, Del., vacation home and left with written notes.

Biden in September chided Trump as "irresponsible" for retaining classified documents at his Florida compound, which is guarded by the Secret Service — unlike Biden's Wilmington home and DC office following his vice presidency.

Some of the classified records found by the FBI reportedly date to Biden's time as a senator.

Biden has sought to downplay the controversy, saying in a Feb. 8 PBS interview, "The best of my knowledge, the kind of things they picked up are things that — from 1974, stray papers."

At other points, Biden fumed about attention to his conduct.

"There is no there there," Biden told reporters Jan. 19 during a trip to California.

Biden first publicly acknowledged the discovery of classified documents at the Penn Biden Center during a Jan. 10 press conference in Mexico City — but only after CBS broke the story the day before.

In his initial remarks, Biden didn't say that a second cache of classified documents had been found in his Wilmington garage weeks earlier and gave the impression only one set of records existed.

Biden proceeded to acknowledge on Jan. 12 that some classified records were found next to his classic Corvette in Wilmington, but denied he was reckless with the nation's secrets.

"My Corvette is in a locked garage, OK? So it's not like they're sitting out on the street," he said at the time.