Growing Biden Document Leak Controversy... White House Says "No Visitor Records"

[Asia Economy New York=Special Correspondent Joselgina] As confidential documents from Joe Biden's vice presidential period have been repeatedly found in his personal office and residence, the political debate in the U.S. is intensifying. The Republican Party, citing fairness with former President Donald Trump, is pressuring for congressional investigations while demanding the disclosure of all related information, including visitor records to the presidential residence. However, the White House has stated that no such records exist.

[Image source=AP Yonhap News]

According to CNN, on the 16th (local time), the White House legal team issued a statement saying, "Like all presidents in modern history over the past several decades, his residence is private," and that the Wilmington residence in Delaware, where confidential documents were found, does not keep a visitor log. The legal team explained, "President Biden restored the regulations and traditions of maintaining White House visitor records that had ended with the previous administration after his inauguration," but noted that this policy does not apply to the presidential residence.

This followed a letter sent the previous day by James Comer, a Republican and chairman of the House Oversight Committee, to White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain, requesting information related to visitor records at the Wilmington residence since President Biden's inauguration. Comer stated, "There are questions about who reviewed or accessed the confidential documents that were improperly stored at the president's home for at least six years." On the same day, Comer criticized the Wilmington residence, where additional confidential documents were found, as a "crime scene" in an interview with CNN.

Previously, confidential documents handled by President Biden during his vice presidency were found consecutively in his Washington DC office and Wilmington residence in Delaware. Some of the materials found at the residence included top secret information and contained content related to Ukraine, Iran, and the United Kingdom. It has been reported that the Biden administration concealed the discovery of these documents, which were first found just before the midterm elections in November last year, until recent media reports surfaced, further escalating the controversy.

The Democratic Party has expressed regret over the document leak incident but appears to be trying to contain the spread by urging vigilance as investigations are already underway. On the 12th, Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Korean-American attorney Robert Hur, a former prosecutor who served as the Deputy Assistant Attorney General and U.S. Attorney for Maryland, as a special counsel to lead the investigation. Local media have evaluated this as an attempt to differentiate this case from the document leak involving former President Trump, who underwent a home search due to leaked confidential documents.

On the other hand, the Republican Party has increased criticism daily, calling it a kind of "double standard" and pressuring for congressional-level investigations. Jim Jordan, Republican chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, claimed on Fox News the previous day that the Biden administration is handling the two confidential document leak cases differently, calling it a "double standard."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.