The U.S. Department of Justice is reviewing classified files found in the Washington office space of Penn Biden Center, President Joseph Biden’s former institute. 

Critics say the matter could become a case of mishandling classified files which would earn the president fierce criticism regardless of the DOJ verdict.  

As Mr Biden’s personal attorneys were clearing out the offices of the Penn Biden Center, where the president kept an office after leaving the vice presidency in 2017 until shortly before launching his 2020 presidential campaign in 2019, “a small number of documents with classified markings” were discovered, according to Special Counsel to the president, Richard Sauber.

The documents were discovered on November 2, 2022, in a “locked closet” in the office, according to Mr Sauber.

He added that the attorneys promptly notified the White House Counsel’s office, which notified the National Archives and Records Administration, which took control of the documents the next day.

“Since that discovery, the president’s personal attorneys have cooperated with the Archives and the Department of Justice in a process to ensure that any Obama-Biden Administration records are appropriately in the possession of the Archives,” Mr Sauber said.