More classified documents found at Joe Biden's Delaware home

Lawyers for U.S.President Joe Biden found more classified documents at his home in Wilmington, Del., than previously known, the White House acknowledged on Saturday.

White House lawyer Richard Sauber said in a statement that a total of six pages of classified documents were found during a search of Biden's private library. The White House had said previously that only a single page was found there.

The latest disclosure is in addition to the discovery of documents found in December in Biden's garage and in November at his former officeat the Penn Biden Center in Washington, from his time as vice-president.

The apparent mishandling of classified documents and official records from the Obama administration isunder investigation by a former U.S. attorney, Robert Hur, who was appointed as a special counsel on Thursday by Attorney General Merrick Garland.

Sauber said in a statement on Saturday that Biden's personal lawyers, who did not have security clearances, stopped their search after finding the first page on Wednesday evening. Sauber found the remaining material on Thursday, as he was facilitating their retrieval by the Department of Justice (DOJ).

"While I was transferring it to the DOJ officials who accompanied me, five additional pages with classification markings were discovered among the material with it, for a total of six pages," Sauber said. "The DOJ officials with me immediately took possession of them."

Sauber has previously said that the White House was "confident that a thorough review will show that these documents were inadvertently misplaced, and the president and his lawyers acted promptly upon discovery of this mistake."

Delay in acknowledging documents questioned

Sauber's statement did not explain why the White House waited two days to provide an updated accounting of the number of classified documents. The White House is already facing scrutiny for waiting more than two months to acknowledge the discovery of the initial group of documents at the Biden office.

On Thursday, asked whether Biden could guarantee that additional classified documents would not turn up in a further search, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters, "You should assume that it's been completed, yes."

Sauber reiterated on Saturday that the White House would co-operate with Hur's investigation.

Bob Bauer, the president's personal lawyer, said his legal team has "attempted to balance the importance of public transparency where appropriate with the established norms and limitations necessary to protect the investigation's integrity."

WATCH| What the special counsel's investigation could find:

Second batch of Biden documents 'alarming,' says former national security official

2 years ago

Duration 7:48

Former National Security Council member Javed Ali gives insight to the second batch of classified documents found at Joe Biden's home in Wilmington, Del., and what could come up under the investigation by the special counsel.

Biden is spending the weekend in Wilmington with his wife, Jill Biden, who underwent surgery on Wednesday to remove skin lesions from her face and chest.

He was asked by a reporter on Thursday about the wisdom of storing important material next to his Corvette. The self-declared "car guy"president said both were in a locked garage.

"It's not like they're sitting out in the street," Bidensaid. "People know I take classified documents and classified material seriously."

Republicans launch investigation

Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives launched an investigation on Friday into the Justice Department's handling of improperly stored classified documents possessed by Biden, and they questioned whether his son, Hunter, had access to any.

In a letter to Garland, top Republicans on the House judiciary committee demanded all relevant documents and communications between the Justice Department, the FBI, the White House and Biden's attorneys.

On Saturday, James Comer, Republican chair of the House oversight committee, described the matter as alarming and said the National Archives, Justice Department and White House had not been transparent. Comer said his panel would also review the case.

"How many more classified documents will they find at Joe Biden's house?" the Republican House judiciary committee said in a Twitter post on Saturday.

WATCH | Discovery of more classified documents could damageBiden politically:

Bidens team does damage control after more classified documents found in Delaware

2 years ago

Duration 2:06

President Joe Bidens team is doing damage control after more classified documents were found at his Delaware residence. Republicans were quick to call Biden a hypocrite for condemning former president Donald Trump for taking top secret files to his Mar-a-Lago estate.

The Justice Department historically imposes a high legal bar before bringing criminal charges in cases involving the mishandling of classified information, with a requirement that someone intended to break the law as opposed to being merely careless or negligent in doing so.

The primary statute governing the illegal removal and retention of classified documents makes it a crime to "knowingly" remove classified documents and store them in an unauthorized way.

The circumstances involving Biden, at least as so far known, differ from a separate investigation into the mishandling of classified documents at former president Donald Trump's private club and residence in Florida.

In Trump's case, special counsel Jack Smith is investigating whether anyone sought to obstruct their investigation into the retention of classified records at the Palm Beach estate. Justice Department officials have said Trump's representatives failed to fully comply with a subpoena that sought the return of classified records, prompting agents to return to the home with a search warrant so they could collect additional materials.