During a press conference on Tuesday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who served as managing director of the Penn Biden Center, said he was not aware of “any reason” why “any government records” would be taken to the think tank in Washington, D.C.
Blinken’s comments come as Democrat President Joe Biden undergoes investigations for mishandling numerous sets of classified documents from his vice presidency in the Obama-Biden administration.
“Let me just ask you, because while you were at the State Department, not at the White House and the Vice President’s Office, you were for two years the managing director of the Penn Biden Center, and just ask if you were aware of any reason why classified documents would have been packed and brought there while you were there, and whether you would be available for an interview if the special counsel requests,” a reporter said to Blinken.
“The short answer is no,” Blinken responded. “Just as you heard from President Biden about a week ago, I was surprised to learn that there were any government records taken to the Penn Biden Center. I had no knowledge of it at the time. The White House of course has indicated that the administration is cooperating fully with the review that the Justice Department has undertaken, and I of course would cooperate fully with that review myself.”
On November 2, just a few days before the midterm elections, lawyers for President Biden found a set of about 10 classified documents from the Obama-Biden administration in a locked closet in the offices of the Penn Biden Center, an office Biden began working at occasionally in 2017 after his vice presidency ended.
Many batches of classified documents from the Obama-Biden administration have continued to be found in Biden’s possession at other unsecure locations like the garage and private library of his Delaware home.
