Gary O'Donoghue
Washington Correspondent

Image source, Reuters

The revelation of a second batch of classified documents is hugely embarrassing for the president.

It makes it worse that they were found in his garage with his 1960s sports car – not exactly the most secure of locations.

But the spotlight really now falls on the attorney general, who will hold a press conference later.

He will come under enormous pressure to give details of what has been found (as he did with Donald Trump) and to appoint a special counsel (again, as he did with Donald Trump).

Republicans are already levelling charges of double standards at the Biden administration over the issue. The response of the Department of Justice will be crucial in battling those accusations.

Image source, EPA

Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has called for Congress to investigate Joe Biden following the discovery of two batches of classified documents - one of which was found at President Biden's home.

McCarthy accused Biden of hypocrisy, pointing to the justice department's probe of former President Donald Trump for allegedly mishandling classified files.

McCarthy also accused Democrats of trying to "have different standards for their own beliefs," citing the fact that the first set of files were found in November - before the midterm elections.

"You look at President Biden, he wasn't president. He as vice president held these [documents] in different locations right out in the open. He criticised President Trump. Did he utilise the justice department to raid President Trump?" McCarthy questioned.

Biden denies keeping any classified documents out in the open, saying they were locked in his garage. The president is also cooperating fully with the justice department, Biden's special counsel says.

Image source, REUTERS/Jim Bourg

A special counsel to investigate the possible mishandling of classified documents by President Joe Biden could be announced by Attorney General Merrick Garland later today, Bloomberg news reports an unnamed source 'familiar with the matter' , externalas saying.

Garland has previously appointed independent lawyer Jack Smith to oversee the US justice department's criminal investigations into former President Donald Trump's handling of classified documents.

More than 325 classified files were discovered over the course of last year at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.

Following the discovery of classified documents at a private office once used by President Biden, a former US Attorney has been outlining the process of how such material is handled, secured and destroyed.

Paul Charlton asks why these documents were allowed to go out into an environment where they weren't secure.

"There is supposed to be a clear chain of custody," he said.

Just before President Biden began speaking, we learned that the second set of classified material was found in the garage of his Delaware home.

The president's special counsel Richard Sauber outlined in a statement how the documents were discovered.

"The president's lawyers have searched the president’s Wilmington and Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, residences – the other locations where files from his vice-presidential office might have been shipped in the course of the 2017 transition," he said.

"The lawyers completed that review last night.

"As was done in the [first] case of the Penn-Biden Center, the Department of Justice was immediately notified, and the lawyers arranged for the Department of Justice to take possession of these documents."

Image source, Reuters

The president started walking out of the room - only to come back and briefly respond to a query about his wife Jill's health.

The first lady recently underwent surgery to remove cancerous skin lesions from her face and chest, and Biden said she was recovering and "doing really well". He also said the surgery lasted five hours, and that the cancer now has a 0-1% chance of returning.

After this, Biden waved to reporters who were still shouting questions as he walked away.

President Biden says the documents discovered at his home will be handed over to the Department of Justice.

"My lawyer has reviewed other places where documents from my time as vice president were stored, and they finished the review last night," he said.

"They discovered a small number of documents of classified marking in storage areas and file cabinets in my home and my personal library. This was done in the case of the Biden Penn Center.

"The Department of Justice was immediately notified. And the lawyers arranged for the Department of Justice to take possession of the documents.

"So you're gonna see, we're gonna see all this unfold, I'm confident."

With the speech over, it was straight to the question everyone wanted an answer to - what could he tell us about the document discovery.

"Classified material, next to your Corvette - what were you thinking?" one reporter asks.

Biden says the documents were in a locked garage, "not sitting out in the street".

"People know I take classified material seriously," he says.

He says he's cooperating fully with the investigation.

Image source, Reuters

Biden's speech turned out to be very short - he touted his administration's accomplishments and called the latest US inflation figures "good news" for the economy.

Another positive development for the economy, according to Biden, is that the US unemployment rate fell to its lowest in 50 years last week.

The US unemployment rate is also near a record low for Black and Hispanic Americans and is the lowest rate ever for Americans with disabilities, Biden said.

"We have more work to do but we're on the right track," he added.

Gary O'Donoghue
Washington Correspondent

Apart from the obvious political embarrassment to the president and the inevitable accusations of hypocrisy, the discovery of classified documents raises some serious questions for the White House.

First, and most important, how secret and how sensitive is the information that failed to find its way (as it legally must) to the National Archives?

What are the implications for national security - and what remedies might have to be put in place - given these documents seem to have been hanging around for several years from the time Joe Biden was a private citizen during the Trump administration?

Who knows who may have had eyes on them in that time.

Second, given the first batch turned up in early November, why did it take two months for the White House to acknowledge the fact?

It’s hard to avoid the conclusion that the midterm elections played a part in what happened, coming, as they did, a week after the discovery.

Third, will the administration now have to appoint a special counsel to look into the matter as it has in Donald Trump’s case?

Many will resist that, arguing the two cases are very different given the former president’s resistance and accusations of obstruction, but it will be hard to make that case convincingly and avoid accusations of double standards.

Image source, Reuters

US President Joe Biden is beginning his address now.

While his speech will focus on the US economy and the latest inflation figures, the president will also be pressed by reporters over the files found at his former private office and at his Delaware home.

Stay with us as we bring you the latest.

The White House says the second set of classified documents found by President Biden's lawyers were located in his garage in Wilmington, Delaware. It had earlier been reported that another set of documents had been found but the location was unknown.

In a statement, Richard Sauber, Special Counsel to the President, said: "The lawyers discovered among personal and political papers a small number of additional Obama-Biden Administration records with classified markings.

"All but one of these documents were found in storage space in the President’s Wilmington residence garage. One document consisting of one page was discovered among stored materials in an adjacent room."

The administration was fully co-operating to ensure that the records are handled properly, he said.

Image source, Reuters

President Biden was due to begin his speech on the US economy 30 minutes ago....but here's what we're seeing.

Trust us, we're here and we're watching. We'll tell you what he says as soon as he appears.

The United States has three levels of classification: confidential, secret and top secret. Each level of classification indicates an increase in the material’s sensitivity.

The sensitivity is based upon how much estimated damage the release of the information would cause to national security.

The contents of classified documents can vary and several laws protect the information. They include the Espionage Act of 1917, the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 and the Intelligence Identities Protection Act of 1982.

There is a large responsibility in the protection of this material and so there’s a process for storing, securing and destroying it.

Anthony Zurcher
BBC North America correspondent

Image source, Getty Images

The discovery of another batch of classified documents in a second location increases the possibility that this story is not one of isolated carelessness on the part of Joe Biden and his team, but rather something more systemic.

It also increases the chances that this is not the last new revelation of document mishandling.

It is an iron rule of presidential scandals that bad news dripping out over an extended period of time is much more politically damaging than one-time revelations, however bad they may be.

It's already distracting from the issues Biden wants to focus on, such as dropping inflation levels and the Republican efforts to enact abortion restrictions in the House of Representatives.

At the moment, the story is an embarrassment for Biden. If it drags on, it could have a more corrosive effect on his presidency.

Image source, Getty Images

Biden is set to speak shortly on the US economy and "efforts to tackle inflation”, according to the White House, just after the latest US data showed inflation eased in December, continuing its months-long downward trend.

US inflation was 6.5% over the 12 months to the end of December, down from 7.1% in November, the US Labor Department said.

It was the smallest increase in more than a year, and marked a sixth consecutive month of declines.

The US Central Bank has been hiking interest rates at a record pace to battle high prices, which took off in 2021 as the economy came back to life after Covid-19 lockdowns.

The war in Ukraine - which has affected food and energy supplies - has exacerbated the issue, leading inflation to spike to the highest rate in four decades - 9.1% in June.

Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell said last month the bank would start to move less aggressively to see how interest rates are playing out in the economy.

Reporters asked White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre about the files for the first time at a news conference on Wednesday. They wanted to know when Biden learned about the documents.

She was also asked why the news was not announced as soon as the president's personal lawyers discovered the records on 2 November.

But Jean-Pierre refused to respond to many of the questions, citing the US justice department's ongoing review of the matter.

"At this time, I'm not going beyond what the president said yesterday," she said after Biden had given his first remarks on the documents. "It's an ongoing process. We're going to respect the process."

"He laid out what he knew, when he knew it," she added.

In case you need of a recap, here's how we got here.

Files unearthed: Two sets of classified US government documents have been discovered by President Joe Biden's aides - one in a private office that Biden once used and another in a location that's yet to be revealed. The first batch reportedly included intelligence memos and briefing materials related to Ukraine, Iran and the United Kingdom.

Timeline: The first lot of documents - around 10 - were discovered in November at the Penn Biden Centre, a think tank near the White House, but only came to light this week. It is not yet clear when or where the second lot of papers were found.

Biden reaction: Speaking about the discovery of the original files, Biden said he was surprised and did not know what was in them.

Republican criticism: The controversy comes as the Democratic president faces scrutiny from a new Republican majority in the US House of Representatives. James Comer, the new chairman of the House Oversight Committee, says he has concerns Biden “compromised [intelligence] sources”.

Trump comparison: One of the reasons this story is getting so much attention is because Biden’s predecessor, Donald Trump, currently faces a criminal investigation for allegedly mishandling classified files. Last August, FBI agents raided Trump’s Florida home and found more than 300 documents with classified markings, including 18 marked top secret, which he had failed to turn over to the National Archives.

President Biden said yesterday he was surprised that classified documents were found in his former Washington DC office, and that he did not know what was in them.

He said his team was “co-operating fully” with a review which he said he hoped would be finished soon.

Watch the clip above to see what he had to say.

Anthony Zurcher
BBC North America correspondent

Image source, Getty Images

Biden's critics are quickly drawing comparisons between these discoveries and the ongoing Department of Justice investigation into Donald Trump's handling of classified material following his departure from the White House in January 2021.

How do the two cases compare?

According to news reports, Biden's personal lawyers found 10 classified documents - some marked Top Secret - included in a box of other material in a storage closet at the University of Pennsylvania's Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement.

That contrasts with the more than 325 classified files - including some marked with Secret and Top Secret designations - discovered over the course of last year at Mr Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.

We don't know how many files were found in the second Biden cache.

The documents discovered in Biden's think-tank office were marked "sensitive compartmented information", according to CNN, indicating the material could involve intelligence-gathering methods and sources. They reportedly included information about Ukraine, Iran and the UK.

Of the 300 Trump documents recovered at Mar-a-Lago, one set had a similar SCI designation.

There are other considerations too, such as:

• How the investigations into each case came about
• The response to the missing documents

Read more on that here.