Classified documents found in Biden's private office include memos on Ukraine, Iran

10 classified documents including US intelligence memos and briefing materials that covered topics including Ukraine, Iran and the UK were found among the items from Joe Biden’s time as vice president discovered in a private office in November 2022. 

As CNN reports, citing a source familiar with the matter, US Attorney General Merrick Garland has received a preliminary report on the documents inquiry and will now have to decide on how to proceed, including whether to open a criminal investigation.

The documents were discovered on November 2, just six days before the US midterm elections, with this discovery becoming public only on January 9. The discovered classified documents are from 2013 to 2016, according to the source.

The source told CNN that a personal lawyer for Biden was closing out his private Washington DC office after his term as vice president had ended. The lawyer discovered a folder labeled “personal,” opened the envelope and noticed some classified documents inside and called the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). 

President Biden commented on the incident on Janaury 10, saying that he did not know that and "was surprised to learn there were any government records that were taken there to that office” after he had left the White House and that his attorneys “did what they should have done” by immediately calling the NARA.