Rosenstein: Key question is whether Biden was aware of classified documents

Former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein on Sunday said the key question for the special counsel looking at the classified Obama-era documents found at President Biden’s home and former office is whether Biden was aware that the materials were kept past his tenure as vice president.

“The key question, the threshold question here is going to be: ‘Was President Biden aware of those classified documents?’ ” Rosenstein told host Chuck Todd on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

Sitting the president down for an interview would be a “logical step” to try and determine whether he had any awareness, Rosenstein said.

“If I were conducting this investigation, I’d want to go right to the source and ask the president directly whether or not he was aware of those documents,” the former deputy attorney general added.

Attorney General Merrick Garland last week appointed a special counsel to investigate the discovery of some two dozen classified documents found in recent weeks at an old Washington, D.C., office previously used by Biden and at his Wilmington, Del., home.  

Biden’s legal team apparently turned over the documents to the National Archives when they were found, but the matter has come under scrutiny in the wake of outrage over former President Trump’s handling of classified materials that he kept at his Florida home after his time in the White House.

The FBI executed a search warrant of Trump’s home after the former president failed to return requested documents to the National Archives, recovering hundreds of files, and a special counsel was also appointed to probe his material handling.