President Biden on Friday ignored reporters’ questions about his handling of classified documents.
Biden passed the press pool with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida of Japan on their way into the White House for a bilateral conversation.
‘Mr. President, why didn’t you tell us about the second batch of documents?’ a reporter could be heard shouting to Biden.
Journalists also asked about the health of first lady Jill Biden, who recently underwent surgery to have two cancerous lesions removed.
Later, Biden did not respond to more questions after he and Kishida made brief remarks in the Oval Office.
Attorney General Merrick Garland on Thursday appointed a special counsel to investigate Biden’s handling of classified documents dating back to the Obama administration.
A second stash of classified documents was found inside the garage of Biden’s Wilmington, Delaware, home. The first documents were found inside the Washington offices of the Penn Biden Center think tank.
Biden went back and forth with Fox News’ Peter Doocy on Thursday.
‘Classified documents next to your Corvette? What were you thinking?’ Doocy asked.
‘I’m going to get the chance to speak on all of this, God-willing it’ll be soon, but I said earlier this week — and by the way my Corvette is in a locked garage. It’s not like it’s sitting out in the street,’ Biden responded.
‘So the documents were in a locked garage,’ Doocy prompted.
‘Yes, as well as my Corvette. But as I said earlier this week, people know I take classified documents and classified material seriously,’ Biden said. ‘I also said we’re cooperating fully and completely with the Justice Department’s review.’
The White House Counsel’s Office searched Biden’s two residences in Rehoboth Beach and Wilmington, Delaware, this week after news of the first documents broke. White House lawyers say they immediately contacted the DOJ when they discovered the documents inside the Wilmington garage.
Richard Sauber, special counsel to the president, said Thursday the documents were ‘inadvertently misplaced.’
Fox News’s Anders Hagstrom contributed to this report.
