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House GOP calls for visitor log to Biden's home after new documents found

Rep. James Comer Jr., R-Ky., sent a letter to the White House on Sunday calling on it to hand over the visitor log to President Joe Biden's house after a new batch of classified documents were found at the residence. Pool file photo by Andrew Harnik/UPI
Rep. James Comer Jr., R-Ky., sent a letter to the White House on Sunday calling on it to hand over the visitor log to President Joe Biden's house after a new batch of classified documents were found at the residence. Pool file photo by Andrew Harnik/UPI | License Photo

Jan. 16 (UPI) -- House Republicans on Sunday called on the White House to had over the visitor log for President Joe Biden's Wilmington residence after it was revealed this weekend that a new batch of classified documents had been found at his Delaware home.

Some 20 documents bearing classified markings from Biden's time as vice president have been found amid an ongoing investigation into the president's handling of such reports.

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On Saturday, the White House said six papers were found in a small office adjacent to the garage of his home. The discovery was the third time such documents had been uncovered by White House aides and Biden's lawyers.

Rep. James Comer, chairman of the House oversight and accountability committee, sent a letter Sunday to White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain requesting the visitor log of Biden's Wilmington home from Jan. 20, 2021, to present.

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He also called for all documents and communications related to searches of Biden's home and other locations, stating the president's attorneys do not have security clearances.

"The Committee demands transparency into whether any individuals with foreign connections to the Biden family gained access to President Biden's residence and the classified documents that he has mishandled for years," Comer, R-Ky., wrote in the letter.

"President Biden's mishandling of classified materials raises the issue of whether he has jeopardized our national security. Without a list of individuals who have visited the residence, the American people will never know who had access to these highly sensitive documents."

The announcement comes as House Republicans, who gained control of their branch of Congress earlier this month, have been increasing the pressure on the Biden administration.

On Wednesday, Comer announced his long-promised influence peddling investigation into the Biden family, accusing them of using Biden's position for profit at the expense of the United States.

The Republican-led House judiciary committee announced an investigation into Biden's handling of documents Friday.

It also comes amid an ongoing criminal investigation into former President Donald Trump's handling of classified government documents.

The FBI last summer conducted a raid on the former president's Mar-a-Lago Florida residence, uncovering thousands of documents from his time in the White House, including hundreds marked classified. The raid was conducted following a year of Trump failing to hand them over to the National Archives.

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Despite Biden's legal staff having informed the Justice Department that it had uncovered the documents and their seeming cooperation with the ongoing investigation, Republicans have cried foul and political bias over the differing treatment of the two presidents.

During an interview Sunday with CNN's State of the Union, Comer said his greatest concern is not the documents themselves but to ensure equal treatment.

"At the end of the day, my biggest concern isn't the classified documents, to be honest with you. My concern is how there's such a discrepancy in how former President Trump was treated by raiding Mar-a-Lago, by getting the security cameras, by taking pictures of documents on the floor, by going through Melania [Trump]'s closet, versus Joe Biden.

"That's not equal treatment and we're very concerned and there's a lack of trust at the Department of Justice here by House Republicans."

Comer referred to Biden's Delaware residence as a "crime scene," and that House Republicans want the visitor log "because this is the same type of investigation that the Democrats were so outraged and launched and demanded happen to President Trump."

Richard Sauber, special counsel to president, said in a statement that Biden's attorneys have been following a process and have been coordinating with the National Archives and the Department of Justice concerning the review of documents.

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He confirmed that Biden's personal attorneys conducting the search do not have active security clearances, so if they find a document bearing classified markings, they stop what they are doing, do not review the document in question and suspend further search of the box, file or space where it was found.

Sauber said he has security clearance, and provided the recently found documents at Biden's Delaware home to the Justice Department.

Attorney General Merrick Garland said Thursday he had appointed a special council to investigate the discovery of classified documents tied to Biden, which followed a second batch of documents having been in found in the garage of Biden's Wellington residence.

The first batch of 10 documents was found at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 2., which sparked a search for further documents.

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