Biden and his legal team don't know what's in classified documents found in his private office, sources say

President Joe Biden and his White House legal team do not know what's in the classified documents from his time as vice president that were discovered last fall in his private office because they did not review them, two sources familiar with the matter told CNN.

Biden didn't know the documents were there, and didn't become aware they were there, until his personal lawyers informed the White House counsel's office, one source told CNN. In explaining why Biden doesn't know what's in the documents, the source said the president's team is wary of appearing to interfere given the Justice Department is still scrutinizing the matter.

Biden's personal attorneys found the documents when packing files, the White House has said, and then the counsel's office notified the National Archives and Records Administration. Biden's lawyers provided the documents to the National Archives the day after they found them and are still cooperating in the matter being reviewed by the US attorney in Chicago, according to the White House.

before the bilateral meeting for a response to the classified documents, Biden stayed quiet and at one point appeared to smirk as shouting reporters were ushered out of the room. Seated to Biden's left during his meeting with the Mexican president: Attorney General Merrick Garland, who has asked the US attorney in Chicago to review the matter, a source familiar with the matter told CNN, a process that is still in a preliminary stage.

The US attorney in Chicago, John Lausch Jr., was appointed by former President Donald Trump in 2017.

Richard Sauber, special counsel to Biden, said in a statement that the White House is cooperating with the National Archives and Department of Justice.

"The documents were discovered when the President's personal attorneys were packing files housed in a locked closet to prepare to vacate office space at the Penn Biden Center in Washington, D.C.," Sauber said in a statement. "The President periodically used this space from mid-2017 until the start of the 2020 campaign. On the day of this discovery, November 2, 2022, the White House Counsel's Office notified the National Archives. The Archives took possession of the materials the following morning."

"The discovery of these documents was made by the President's attorneys," Sauber added. "The documents were not the subject of any previous request or inquiry by the Archives. 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.

The episode has echoes of the scandal that enveloped Trump in late 2021 over scores of classified documents found at his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida during a raid by the FBI. However, there are some key differences between the two scenarios in the Biden team's tellin

Sauber said Biden's personal attorneys quickly turned over a small number of classified documents once they were found in a locked space. With Trump, when the National Archives realized key records were missing it was forced to haggle with Trump for months over the return of government document

The documents discovered in Biden's office had never been sought or requested by NARA or any other government entit

Trump eventually gave 15 boxes of materials back to NARA. But federal investigators later came to correctly suspect that he was still holding onto dozens of additional classified files. So, DOJ prosecutors secured a grand jury subpoena and later got a judge's permission to search Mar-a-Lago, to find the documents. He is now under investigation by special counsel Jack Smith for potentially mishandling classified document

Ever since the FBI searched Mar-a-Lago in August -- a search that uncovered dozens of additional classified files -- Trump has promoted wild and unfounded allegations about his predecessors' supposed mishandling of government records. The news about classified records turning up at Biden's private office is sure to provide new fodder to Trump, who has already announced his 2024 presidential bi

Trump's lawyers see the revelation of the documents in Biden's private office as a huge asset to their ongoing case related to his handling of classified documents after he left office, believing it showcases how easy it is to unknowingly take documents that are supposed to be in the possession of the federal governmen

While the differences in the two incidents are stark, given Trump resisted turning over the documents he took, his team plans to highlight how these documents were found days before the midterm election but nothing was said publicly about it.

Intelligence Committee -- Reps. Adam Schiff and Jim Himes -- both told CNN that classified documents must be handled securely, offering their first reaction to news that President Biden may have mishandled classified documents from his time as vice president.

While both men said they hadn't yet read the facts of the stories about the matter yet, Schiff said, "Obviously if there are classified documents anywhere they shouldn't be that's a problem and a deep concern."

Asked if Congress should look into the matter, Schiff said: "I probably don't want to say more time until I have a chance to read the article. But I think it ought to be concerning to anyone if classified information is not where it should be."

Himes told CNN, "Look, classified information needs to stay in secure spaces. So, we'll wait to see the facts, but, you know, classified information needs to be in secure spaces."