Biden staffers packing up files in his office were worried about TRUMP’S arrival

Aides sorting through reams of material during then-Vice President Joe Biden’s last days in the White House were packing boxes after hours amid a flurry of activity – while eyeing the looming presidency of Donald Trump.

Those final days in office in January 2017 came at a time when many Democratic aides were shell-shocked by Trump’s victory, with many having anticipated a win by Hillary Clinton during a tempestuous campaign that was upended by allegations of hacking, Clinton’s email scandal, a public intervention by FBI Director James Comey, and Trump’s unusual candidacy and stunning win.

‘It was just a really, really weird time for everyone,’ a source familiar with the situation told CNN, which reported that aides were busy packing up photos, papers, mementos – even at night – while Biden engaged in a flurry of travel and activities.

As the result of the normal planning process documents got turned over to the National Archives – but last-minute work continued up until Biden’s last hours in office, generating additional materials.  Government investigators are now trying to untangle exactly how classified material ended up in Biden’s Wilmington home and in his think tank office in DC – after Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Special Counsel Robert K. Hur to oversee the probe. 

Aides were scrambling to pack papers for outgoing Vice President Joe Biden during the ‘weird time’ before Donald Trump took office

That comes amid a timeline that reveals government officials knew about the recovered documents for weeks before it was made public. 

Investigators have already spoken to ‘multiple aides’ in an effort to untangle the situation – reportedly including Kathy Chung, who was Biden’s administrative assistant at the time. 

Chung has been identified as helping box up material in the final days Biden was in office, NBC reported. It would be years before it was discovered that a ‘small number’ of documents marked classified were discovered at Biden’s Wilmington, Delaware home, after some were found at the Penn-Biden office he maintained in Washington, D.C.

‘The people who were boxing [up the vice presidential office] had no idea that there was anything in there that shouldn’t leave the White House,’ a source told the network. ‘There was no decision made to take certain documents that should have been presidential records or classified.’

Prosecutors examining the case will be looking for anything indicative of intent, which will have bearing on whether charges are ultimately brought against any individuals.

Papers from Biden’s vice presidency went to the Archives and to a temporary GSA government facility 

Secretary of State Antony Blinken is among top officials who previously worked at the Penn-Biden Center, where classified documents were found

The White House has declined to release visitor logs from Biden’s lakefront Wilmington, Delaware home (pictured) where he spends most every weekend – and conducted most of the 2020 campaign due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic 

Many Democrats were floored by Trump’s win, and had been expecting a transition to a Hillary Clinton presidency

Several of Biden’s current top aides also had roles at the Pen- Biden Center. 

Among the documents that have been uncovered are reportedly ten classified documents on topics ranging from Ukraine to Iran and the UK. Biden visited former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko just days before leaving office. 

A single manila folder marked ‘VP personal’ contained one of the documents discovered at the think tank office in November, a person familiar with it told CNN. 

That came before lawyers for the president discovered additional documents in his garage December 20th, according to AG Merrick Garland, with an additional classified document discovered in an adjacent room that Biden’s lawyers informed the government about Thursday. 

During the frenetic packing process, at a time when Biden was continuing to put a stamp on policy at what might have been the end of his four decades in public office, boxes of material not shipped directly to the National Archives went to a temporary facility near the White House run by the General Services Agency – the same agency that shipped boxes of material to Mar-a-Lago when Trump left office. 

Materials went to another temporary office set up set up by Biden’s team and then to the Penn-Biden Center.