Washington, Jan 10 (IANS): Classified documents from when US President Joe Biden had served as the Vice President in the former Barack Obama administration have been discovered in a private office, according to his lawyers.

Richard Sauber, a special counsel to the President, said on Monday that the files were discovered just before the November 8, 2022, midterm elections by Biden's attorneys who were clearing out the office space, the BBC reported.

Biden kept an office at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement think tank, which is about a mile from the White House, from 2017 to 2020.

In a statement to CBS News, Sauber said: "The White House is cooperating with the National Archives and the Department of Justice regarding the discovery of what appear to be Obama-Biden Administration records, including a small number of documents with classified markings.

"The documents were discovered when the President's personal attorneys were packing files housed in a locked closet to prepare to vacate office space at the Penn Biden Center in Washington, D.C. The President periodically used this space from mid-2017 until the start of the 2020 campaign. On the day of this discovery, November 2, 2022, the White House Counsel's Office notified the National Archives. The Archives took possession of the materials the following morning."

"The discovery of these documents was made by the President's attorneys. The documents were not the subject of any previous request or inquiry by the Archives. Since that discovery, the President's personal attorneys have cooperated with the Archives and the Department of Justice in a process to ensure that any Obama-Biden Administration records are appropriately in the possession of the Archives."

It however, remains unclear what the documents pertain to or why they were taken to Biden's private office, CNN reported.

Federal officeholders are required by law to relinquish official documents and classified records when their government service ends.

An informed source told CNN that Attorney General Merrick Garland has asked the US attorney in Chicago John Lausch Jr. to investigate the matter.

Lausch was appointed by former President Donald Trump in 2017 and unanimously confirmed by the Senate.

The development comes as special counsel Jack Smith is investigating Trump for potentially mishandling classified records at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.

Federal investigators have recovered at least 325 classified documents from Trump as part of their inquiry.

In a post on his social media app, Truth Social, the former President asked: "When is the FBI going to raid the many homes of Joe Biden, perhaps even the White House?", the BBC reported

Congressman James Comer, the new Republican chairman of the House Oversight Committee, said on Monday that the Biden files raised questions about the justice department's neutrality.

He told reporters: "This is further concern that there's a two-tier justice system within the Justice Department with how they treat Republicans versus Democrats, certainly how they treat the former president versus the current president."