During Wednesday’s White House press conference, Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was grilled over the discovery of classified documents at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement.
Jean-Pierre reiterated comments made by Biden on Tuesday in response to questions, saying the president was "surprised" by the discovery.
In response to a question regarding when Biden was briefed on the found documents, Jean-Pierre said, "look, the president addressed this issue, he addressed it in Mexico City on the world stage in front of many of you at a press conference with two of our closest neighbors as you all know, and he said he takes classified documents and information seriously."
"He was surprised to learn any records had been found there," she added. "He doesn’t know what was in them. He said this, just repeating what the president has said."
"As soon as his lawyers realized these documents were there, they did the right thing and immediately turned them over to the archives. As he said his team is fully cooperating with the review."
"And we also released a statement from the White House Counsel’s Office, as you know on Monday, which had detailed information about that particular situation."
Jean-Pierre continued on to say that "this is an ongoing process under the review of the Department of Justice, so we’re going to be limited on what we can say here."
"But as the president told you, as my colleagues have said to many of you, we are committed to doing the right thing, We’re doing this in the right way, and we will provide further details when appropriate."
The reporter continued to press for more details regarding when Biden was briefed on the documents, noting Jean-Pierre’s statement of doing this "the right way, presumably, that means the transparent way."
Jean-Pierre responded by saying she wouldn’t go into further details, adding that "I’m not gonna get beyond what the president shared yesterday."
"He laid out what he knew when he knew it. He laid out how important it is, he sees it very seriously when it comes to taking classified documents and information. I'm just not going to — I know you all are going to have a lot of questions on this. But at this time, I'm not going to go beyond what the president said yesterday. I'm not gonna go beyond what my colleagues from the White House Counsel shared with many of you as well on Monday, and so I'm just going to leave it there."
The reporter continued to press on the subject, asking why the public wasn’t made aware of this sooner if the documents were discovered on November 2.
"Again, this was under review. This is under review by the Department of Justice. I'm not going to go beyond what the president shared yesterday. I'm not going to go beyond what my colleagues at the White House Counsel shared with all of you as well," Jean-Pierre responded.
Jean-Pierre revealed in a response to another question that she has not spoken with Biden about the contents of the documents, later adding during a clarifying question that she has spoken about the topic with Biden.
"Does the White House characterize this as a mistake?" another reporter asked.
"What I'll say is this is an ongoing process," jean-Pierre responded, reiterating once again her previous comments.
"Is he saying that he did not bring those documents to that office?" the reporter asked.
"I'm just not going to go beyond what the president said," Jean-Pierre said.
Jean-Pierre gave a similar response when pressed about how the documents got into the office in the first place, whether it was Biden or someone else.
White House correspondent for CBS News Ed O’Keefe continued to press on the subject, saying "we’re going to ask them because that’s our job."
"This is because on like like day two of this administration, when he swore all of you when the president said, quote, 'I’m gonna make mistakes. When I make them, I'll acknowledge them. And I'll tell you, and I'll need your help to help me correct it.' So you're the one here talking to us about this. That's why we're asking. So let's just remember that.
"We don’t need to have this kind of confrontation," Jean-Pierre said, adding that "you don’t need to be contentious with me."
"The president was asked yesterday but did not answer this part of the question. Why didn't he or someone in the White House inform the American people when these documents were discovered on November 2?" O’Keefe continued, noting that some people are asking whether it has to do with the midterm election.
"Again, this is under review by the Department of Justice. It is literally under review right now. As I am talking to you. It is under review. So I'm not going to get beyond the process. I'm not going to get beyond what the president said," Jean-Pierre responded.
In response to further questioning from other reporters, Jean-Pierre said that there is no log showing how many times Biden has visited his Penn Center office, and that she could not comment on whether additional classified documents could be at other office locations.
"President Biden campaigned on a promise to stay true to the spirit of transparency. How is it possible that the White House did not reveal the presence of these documents prior to the election when they were found?" another reporter asked, to which Jean-Pierre reiterated her previous responses.
"How can President Biden be trusted moving forward with American secrets," asked Fox News' Peter Doocy.
"Because his lawyers, his team, did the right thing," she responded.
Around 10 classified documents were found at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement, many of which were US Intelligence briefings and memos related to Ukraine, Iran, and the United Kingdom.
Shortly after the conclusion of Wednesday's press conference, a second batch of classified documents were found at another Biden office.
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