这机密文件被保存在拜登·佩恩外交和全球参与中心华盛顿特区的一个智库提出了一些问题，涉及总统乔·拜登的情况与前总统唐纳德·特朗普在Mar-a-Lago家中查获的机密文件相比如何。
特朗普试图将拜登办公室的机密文件与联邦调查局8月份从Mar-a-Lago拿走的文件相提并论。拜登在离开副总统职位后，因其在宾夕法尼亚大学担任名誉教授而被用作私人文件。
“联邦调查局什么时候会搜查乔·拜登的许多住宅，甚至可能是白宫，”特朗普在披露后在他的社交媒体网站Truth Social上发布消息。"这些文件肯定没有解密。"
在一个采访9月，在福克斯新闻频道接待肖恩·哈尼蒂时，川普坚称他已经解密了Mar-a-Lago的文件，他只要想想就能做到，甚至说这些文件是他的财产。
各自是如何应对的?
当联邦调查局搜查Mar-a-Lago并发现大量机密文件时——其中一些包含绝密标记——这是在国家档案馆和司法部花了几个月的时间来检索它们之后发生的。
相比之下，当拜登的律师在11月关闭办公室时发现他们所说的少量文件时，据说拜登只是定期使用，他们说他们立即通知了国家档案馆。
拜登的特别顾问理查德·索伯(Richard Sauber)在一份声明中说，“这些文件不是档案馆之前要求或调查的主题。”。
机密文件的数量
“白宫正在与国家档案馆和司法部合作，发现似乎是奥巴马-拜登政府的记录，包括少量带有机密标记的文件，”索伯说。
消息人士告诉ABC新闻，这些文件的确切性质尚不清楚，但司法部已经对拜登事件展开了初步调查。
消息人士告诉美国广播公司新闻，拜登的私人律师发现了大约10份文件，包括一些标有“绝密”的文件，它们来自2013年至2016年期间。
与此同时，司法部特别顾问杰克·史密斯的任务是查明川普是否违反了任何法律，并阻碍了对在Mar-a-Lago发现的数百份机密文件的调查。
国家安全委员会前高级反恐主任贾韦德·阿里(Javed Ali)在接受美国广播公司新闻(ABC News)采访时表示，“听说在佩恩·拜登中心发现了机密文件，这令人惊讶，但根据已经披露的细节，这似乎与前总统特朗普在Mar a Lago的住所发现的大量机密文件有些不同。”。
意图和知识?
现在是密歇根大学福特政策学院教授的阿里说，在宾夕法尼亚中心发现机密文件令人担忧，但目前还不知道造成了什么损害。
“这是草率的记录处理还是有意为之?我们也不知道这个问题的答案，但我怀疑我在情报界的同事正在进行所谓的损害评估，以确定这些文件中到底包含了什么，谁可能未经授权接触过这些文件，以及是否需要采取任何缓解措施。
不清楚拜登是否像特朗普一样知道办公室的机密文件。
一位知情人士证实，司法部长梅里克·加兰(Merrick Garland)已任命伊利诺伊州北区联邦检察官约翰·劳施(John Lausch)领导对这些文件最终如何出现在佩恩·拜登中心(Penn Biden Center)的审查。
劳施的办公室没有立即回应置评请求。联邦调查局请DOJ置评，但他拒绝置评。
共和党人，民主党人采取政治立场
民主党参议员迪克·德宾周二在一份声明中说:“美国司法部长劳施是一名照章办事的检察官，他在上届政府期间得到了两党的支持。”。"我相信他会以最大的专业精神不带偏见地处理这次调查。"
9月，拜登在一份声明中批评了前总统对机密文件的处理接受CBC新闻节目《60分钟》的采访。
“这怎么可能发生，”拜登说。“怎么会有人这么不负责任。我想——里面有哪些数据可能会危及数据来源和方法...这是完全不负责任的。”
但是在墨西哥的一次峰会上，他忽略了记者关于政治敏感问题的提问。
正如所料，共和党和民主党的反应截然不同。
“所以，如果当时的副总统拜登随身携带机密文件并持有多年，并在他拥有这些机密文件的同时批评前总统特朗普，只有在这些文件被发现后，他才会将它们归还，”路易斯安那州的共和党人史蒂夫·斯卡利斯周二在国会山说。“我想知道为什么总统在副总统拿走机密文件时问了他同样的问题，就像他们问特朗普总统一样。”
参议院司法委员会主席、伊利诺伊州民主党人德宾称赞拜登政府通过了适当的渠道。
德宾说:“我赞扬拜登总统和司法部长加兰对这一情况的专业、无党派的处理。“与据称阻挠恢复数百份机密文件的前总统唐纳德·特朗普不同，据报道在拜登中心发现的少量机密文件被立即送往国家档案馆，拜登总统允许司法部在不受政治干预的情况下运作。”
在周二给国家情报总监艾薇儿·海恩斯(Avril Haines)的一封信中，众议院情报委员会(House Intelligence Committee)即将上任的共和党主席迈克·特纳(Mike Turner)要求对在拜登佩恩中心(Biden Penn Center)发现的机密文件进行“损害评估”。
俄亥俄州共和党人特纳在信中写道:“我写信要求立即进行审查和损害评估，此前副总统拜登删除了大量报告，然后在华盛顿特区一个未披露和不安全的非政府办公室保留了高度机密的信息，时间至少为六年。”
他说:“据报道，有争议的部分材料标有‘敏感分隔信息’，表明我国政府的最高机密和最敏感的情报信息。”。
“这一机密信息的发现将使拜登总统有可能违反保护国家安全的法律，包括《反间谍法》和《总统记录法》。受委托接触机密信息的人有责任和义务保护这些信息。这个问题需要全面彻底的审查，”特纳说。
How does the Biden classified documents matter compare to Trump's?
The revelation that classified documents were kept at the Biden Penn Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement, a Washington, D.C., think tank, has raised questions about how the situation involving President Joe Biden compares with the classified documents seized at former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago home.
Trump has sought to liken the classified documents at Biden's office, used as a private citizen after he left as vice president in connection with his being a honorary professor at the University of Pennsylvania, to the documents taken by the FBI from Mar-a-Lago in August.
"When is the FBI going to raid the many homes of Joe Biden, perhaps even the White House," Trump posted on his social media site Truth Social after the revelation. "These documents were definitely not declassified."
In an interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity in September, Trump maintained that he had declassified the documents at Mar-a-Lago, that he could do so simply by thinking about it, and even said that they were his property.
How did each respond?
When the FBI searched Mar-a-Lago and found a large number of classified documents -- some containing top secret markings -- it came after a months-long effort by the National Archives and Justice Department to retrieve them.
By contrast, when Biden attorneys found what they said was a small number of documents in November when closing the office, which Biden was said to have used only periodically, they said they immediately notified the National Archives.
"The documents were not the subject of any previous request or inquiry by the archives," Richard Sauber, a special counsel to Biden, said in a statement.
Number of classified documents
"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," Sauber said.
The exact nature of the documents isn't clear, but the Justice Department has launched a preliminary review into the Biden matter, sources told ABC News.
Sources told ABC News there were approximately 10 documents discovered by Biden's personal attorneys including some that were marked 'Top Secret' and that they were from the period between 2013 and 2016.
Meanwhile, Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith has been tasked with figuring out if Trump broke any laws and obstructed the investigation into the hundreds of classified documents found at Mar-a-Lago.
"It is surprising to hear there were classified documents found at the Penn Biden Center, but based on the details that have come out, it appears to be some somewhat of a different context than the much larger number of classified documents that were found at former presidents President Trump's residence at Mar a Lago," Javed Ali, the former Senior Counterterrorism Director on the National Security Council said in an interview with ABC News.
Intent and knowledge?
Ali, now a professor at the University of Michigan's Ford School of Policy, said it is concerning that classified documents were found at the Penn Center, but it is not known what damage has been done, if any.
"Was this a case of sloppy record handling or something more intentional? We also don't yet know the answer to that, but I suspect my colleagues in the intelligence community are doing what is known as a damage assessment to determine what exactly was contained in these documents, who potentially may have had some kind of unauthorized access to them and what if any kind of mitigation measures need to go in place," he said.
It's not clear whether Biden, unlike Trump, was aware of the classified documents at the office.
Attorney General Merrick Garland has assigned U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois John Lausch with leading the review into how the documents ended up at the Penn Biden Center, a source familiar with the matter confirmed.
Lausch's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The FBI referred comment to DOJ, who declined to comment.
Republicans, Democrats taking political sides
"U.S. Attorney Lausch is a by-the-book prosecutor who was confirmed with bipartisan support during the previous administration," Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin said in a statement Tuesday. "I trust that he will handle this investigation with the utmost professionalism and without bias."
In September, Biden was critical of the former president' handling of classified documents in an interview with the CBC News program "60 Minutes."
"How that could possibly happen," Biden said. "How one -- anyone could be that irresponsible. And I thought -- what data was in there that may compromise sources and methods ... And it's just -- totally irresponsible."
Recent Stories from ABC News
But he has ignored reporter questions about the politically sensitive matter so far during a summit meeting in Mexico.
Reaction from both Republicans and Democrats has been predictably sharply different.
"So, if then Vice President Biden took classified documents with him and held them for years and criticized President former President Trump during that same time that he had those classified documents, and only after it was uncovered, did he turn them back," Steve Scalise, a Republican from Louisiana said on Capitol Hill Tuesday. "I wonder why the president asking the same questions of him as vice president taking classified documents that they were asking President Trump."
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Durbin, an Illinois Democrat, praised the Biden administration for going through the proper channels.
"I applaud President Biden and Attorney General Garland for their professional, nonpartisan handling of this situation," Durbin said. "Unlike former President Donald Trump, who allegedly obstructed efforts to recover hundreds of classified documents, the handful of classified documents reportedly found at the Biden Center were immediately sent to the National Archives and President Biden is allowing the Justice Department to operate free of political interference."
In a letter Tuesday to Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines, Rep. Mike Turner, the incoming GOP chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, asked for a "damage assessment" to be done about the classified documents found at the Biden Penn Center.
"I write to request an immediate review and damage assessment following numerous reports that then Vice-President Biden removed, and then retained highly classified information at an undisclosed and unsecure non-government office in Washington, D.C., for a period of at least six years," Turner, an Ohio Republican, wrote in the letter.
"It has been reported that a portion of the materials at issue were marked "sensitive compartmented information," indicating the highest classification and most sensitive intelligence information in our government," he said.
"This discovery of classified information would put President Biden in potential violation of laws protecting national security, including the Espionage Act and Presidential Records Act. Those entrusted with access to classified information have a duty and an obligation to protect it. This issue demands a full and thorough review," Turner said.
