Biden 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.

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“It’s not like they’re sitting out in the street,” he said. “People know I take classified documents and classified material seriously.”

Republicans in the US House of Representatives launched an investigation on Friday into the Justice Department’s handling of improperly stored classified documents possessed by Biden, and 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.

Republicans have sought to compare the investigation to the ongoing probe into how former President Donald Trump handled classified documents after his presidency.

The White House says the two cases are different because Biden’s team has cooperated with authorities in their probe and had turned over those documents. Trump had resisted doing so until an FBI search in August at his Florida resort.

Bob Bauer, Biden’s personal lawyer, said in a statement that Biden had directed his attorneys to be “forthcoming and fully co-operative with the National Archives and Records Administration and the Justice Department regarding the documents.

“In addition, the president’s personal attorneys have attempted to balance the importance of public transparency where appropriate with the established norms and limitations necessary to protect the investigation’s integrity. These considerations require avoiding the public release of detail relevant to the investigation while it is ongoing,” he said.

Reuters