Biden is ‘fully cooperating’ with classified document investigation,

The White House counsel’s office reiterated on Tuesday President Joe Biden’s commitment to cooperating with the Justice Department’s investigation into the discovery that he improperly removed and stored classified documents from the White House that he obtained while serving as vice president under former President Barack Obama.

“It’s important to really understand the distinction here: President Biden is committed to doing the responsible thing and acting appropriately,” White House counsel’s office spokesman Ian Sams said on a call with reporters. The White House disclosed Saturday that Biden’s lawyers turned over new classified documents that were discovered at Biden’s Delaware home. “His team acted promptly to disclose information to the proper authorities and is cooperating fully.”

Last week the White House disclosed that classified government documents from the Obama administration were found in Biden’s possession on four separate occasions. Documents marked as classified were first discovered in November by lawyers for Biden in a locked closet in an office Biden used as a private citizen at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement in Washington, D.C.

Though the documents were found on Nov. 2, the White House did not make the news public until last Monday. The documents were turned over to the National Archives. Other classified documents were found in Biden’s possession at other locations in searches on Dec. 20, Jan. 12 and Jan. 14, according to the White House.

When pressed on why the White House withheld the discovery of the documents until last week, Sams said officials were working within the constraints of the Justice Department investigation.

“Information is going to develop that’s a natural part of any investigation,” Sams said. “As soon as the searches were underway looking for additional documents to be properly handed to the government, we wanted to be respectful to provide as complete information as we could, trying to balance with the need to provide information to you all consistent with the investigation.”

On Thursday the White House confirmed more documents were discovered in a storage space in the garage of Biden’s Delaware home. The same day, Attorney General Merrick Garland announced he was appointing a special counsel to investigate the discovery. Lawyers for Biden announced over the weekend that additional documents had been uncovered.

Garland tapped Robert Hur to serve as special counsel. Garland previously had assigned John Lausch, the U.S. Attorney for Chicago, to handle the inquiry after the first batch of records were discovered…