The White House on Tuesday brushed aside criticism of its fragmented disclosures about the discovery of classified documents and official records at US President Joe Biden’s home and former office, saying it might withhold information to protect a US Department of Justice investigation.
Ian Sams, a spokesman for the White House counsel’s office, told reporters that the White House was releasing information as it deemed it “appropriate.”
Responding to criticism of the piecemeal disclosures, Sams said the White House was trying to be mindful of the “risk” in sharing information “that’s not complete.”
Photo: Bloomberg
“We’re endeavoring to be as transparent and informative to you all in the media, to the public as we can consistent with respecting the integrity of an ongoing Justice Department investigation,” he said.
On Saturday, the White House said that Biden attorneys had found classified documents and official records on four separate occasions — on Nov. 2 at the offices of the Penn Biden Center in Washington, on Dec. 20 in the garage of the president’s Wilmington, Delaware home, and on Nov. 11 and 12 in the president’s home library.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre had said before the additional discovery that people could assume that the investigation had been completed.
On Tuesday, she referred questions to the department or White House counsel’s office on whether more documents existed and whether they would be disclosed if discovered.
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