Obama, Clinton offices say all classified documents went to Archives

The offices of former Presidents Obama and Clinton say they turned over all classified materials to the National Archives at the end of their presidencies.

A day after it was announced that classified materials had been found at former Vice President Mike Pence’s Indiana home, both the Clinton and Obama offices told The Hill that they had sent all classified materials to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA).

“All of President Clinton’s classified materials were properly turned over to NARA in accordance with the Presidential Records Act,” Clinton’s office said in an email to The Hill.

“Consistent with the Presidential Records Act, all of President Obama’s classified records were submitted to the National Archives upon leaving office,” Obama’s office said in response to an email. “NARA continues to assume physical and legal custody of President Obama’s materials to date.”

Earlier this month, Freddy Ford, chief of staff to former President George W. Bush, told NewsNation that an “intensively thorough process was conducted before he left the White House when all of his presidential records — classified and unclassified — were turned over to the National Archives.” 

Both President Biden and former President Trump are dealing with controversies involving classified materials found outside the White House.

The FBI searched Trump’s Florida Mar-a-Lago home last year and found classified documents, while classified materials have been found in Biden’s Wilmington, Del., home and his former office in Washington, D.C. The Biden documents came from his time as Obama’s vice president.

Pence became the third former president or vice president to have classified documents found at this home. Pence had previously said he and his staff had ensured that no classified documents had not been turned over to the Archives.

Biden has faced scrutiny over the classified documents found at his Delaware home and at his former office. Attorney General Merrick Garland has appointed special prosecutors to look into both the Biden and Trump documents disclosures.