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McCarthy Stands By Rep. Santos, Says He Has To "Earn Trust"; W.H.: Biden Team Coordinating Closely With DOJ Over Classified Docs; W.H. Counsel Confident That Investigation Will Show Docs Were 'Inadvertently Misplaced'. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired January 12, 2023 - 15:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[15:30:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. GEORGE SANTOS (R), NEW YORK: their opinions, but I was elected by 142,000 people. Until those same 142,000 people tell me they don't want me, we'll find out in two years.

I've worked my entire life. I've lived an honest life. I've never been accused, sued of any bad doing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: He even says that he hasn't been accused of lying after admitting that some of the things he said just were not true.

JOE WALSH (R), FORMER U.S. REPRESENTATIVE FOR ILLINOIS: Victor, I'm a broken record, I need to say this again. He is exhibit A, in what today's Republican Party is. Each and every Republican has learned this from Trump. Never express any remorse or shame. If you've been caught doing wrong, lie, don't apologize and fire back at your enemies.

Look at Santos, he's on fanning show. The base, the Republican Party base loves this. All they want is for Republicans to punch back against their enemies.

BLACKWELL: Right.

WALSH: That's what he'll do for two years.

BLACKWELL: Alright, Joe, we got to wrap it here. Thank you very much. Let's go to the White House now.

WALSH: Thanks, Victor.

BLACKWELL: The Press Secretary is taking questions.

KARINE JEAN-PIERRE, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: -- of what the Department of Justice is going to decide. Look, I want to reiterate what you heard from the President today. It is important for the American people to know this, is that the President has said he takes classified documents and information very seriously. This is something as you all know, that he will not shy away from saying and has continued to say this this week.

And again, he was surprised that these records have been found. He does not know what's in them. And his team, once they identified that these documents were there, they immediately reached out to the Archives, to the Department of Justice and did the, rightfully so, did the right thing by turning that over.

And they have been cooperating very closely with the Department of Justice. You actually heard AG, Attorney General Garland say today that they heard from his team, really shortly after the discovery. And so, you know, I just want to make sure that this is understood, that he takes this very seriously.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So speaking of him taking that seriously, this is the kind of thing as government employees to lose security thing. This is a serious matter, as the letter said. Was the President's sloppy this handling of classified material, if there are multiple locations where classified documents are being found?

JEAN-PIERRE: Look, I said this in my -- I said it in the statement. It's in the statement of -- from his lawyer, Richard Sauber, and at the end, he said we are confident that they are -- a thorough review will show that these documents were inadvertently misplaced. And the President and his lawyers acted promptly upon discovery of this mistake.

I'm going to leave it there. That's what his lawyer said. But again, this is something that the President takes very seriously. And we have been coordinating. They have been coordinating -- his lawyers, have been coordinating very closely with the Department of Justice.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, that last is the initial statement who -- I ask him on Monday. The President addresses us on Tuesday in Mexico City all the conversation was about the documents in the office. However, according to the Attorney General, documents were found on December 20 in his garage in Wilmington. Why was that not immediately addressed? Is the White house being transparent about that if that was already known and not discussed up front?

JEAN-PIERRE: So just to -- you said transparent, I want to say that we have been transparent here. That is why the minute that his lawyers found those documents, they reported it, they reached out to the Archives and the Department of Justice. And they did that voluntarily. And they were not compelled to do it. They did it voluntarily.

Now I want to step back a little bit as you're asking me about the timeline. Look, the lawyer said we have been working closely with the Department of Justice and coordinating a search that was still ongoing to ensure any additional documents were in the proper possession of the government.

After that search -- after the search concluded last night, we released a statement disclosing the facts from that search. As you all know, this morning. This is all part of the Justice Department process. And you heard the Attorney General speak to this today. So we are being very careful to be fully cooperative with the Department of Justice and providing details as appropriate, as part of that process.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So why do you fully described the documents where we were firstly asked at this point?

JEAN-PIERRE: Because -- and I actually answered that question. I said because there was a process happening that was currently ongoing. And I'll refer you back to my comments that I made just yesterday. Go ahead, Mary.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just a couple things I want to clarify just to make sure that our recording is as accurate as possible. The special counsels, the White House Counsel's statement this morning said that documents were found in the President's Wilmington residence garage and in an adjacent room.

But when the President mentioned this himself in person earlier, he said they were found in storage areas and in his personal library. So can you just clear this up, which room -- where would the documents actually found in his residence?

JEAN-PIERRE: OK, so let me just step back because I know all of you will have a lot of questions. So I'll lay this out very clearly and precisely. I don't want clearly want to make sure no one is confused as you just said Mary.

[15:35:01]

As soon as the President's lawyers found these documents, they immediately contacted Archives and Department of Justice as I've said many times already, to ensure that they were handled properly. The President has said this, we are being fully cooperative with the Department of Justice throughout this process, as part of the President's lawyers look through the places where documents could have been stored and the Counsel's Office release, as you said, a statement explaining that.

So I would refer you back to the statement. I don't have anything more to say. But that search was completed last night. And now this is in the hands of the Justice Department. So look, I want to be very prudent here as I said yesterday, as you all have reported over and over again, so about any questions about this, any specifics, there's a review going on.

And I would refer to Department of Justice or my colleagues in the Counsel's Office. But again, I'm just not going to go beyond what the President said. We just laid out where -- we just laid out the process that was taken.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It sounds like you're saying we should go off with the council statement, saying it was found in the garage and adjacent room?

JEAN-PIERRE: I'm just saying -- no, I'm just saying I'm not going to go beyond what the President said. I'm not going to -- I completely -- Mary, I completely understand. I just want to be very careful, because there is an ongoing investigation. I want to be prudent here. And make sure if you have any additional questions about where where things were found, again, I refer you to the statement, I'm not going to go beyond what the President said.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And one other point of clarification. The President said Tuesday, he was surprised to learn about the documents at the Penn Biden Center that he didn't know what was in these documents. He didn't sort of repeat that this morning about the documents found at his residence. So was he also surprised to learn that there were classified documents at his residence? And does he know any information about what's in them?

JEAN-PIERRE: Again, he was surprised that the documents were there, and that is also in line with what we shared this morning. And again, he takes this very seriously when it comes to classified information, when it comes to classified documents. And again, it still stays the same.

He was surprised that the records were found. He does not know what's in them, that has not changed. And again, his team, when they identified that they were there, they immediately reached out to the Archives, reached out to DOJ just as they did last night. And as we have pretty much laid out previously.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And one more just because much has been made of the differences here between what you all have handled these documents and the way that the former president handled documents that were taken from the White House. When the FBI when -- I'm sorry, Garland said when the FBI went to the location being the President's residence and secured these documents, did the FBI just retrieved documents, or was there a search of the residence?

JEAN-PIERRE: Again, I'm just not going to go into this particulars or the specifics of what the Department of Justice did. I can speak to what we have done and what is already out there. We laid out a statement pretty extensively on Monday. We've been laid out a statement this morning on what was found last night, and just not going to go beyond.

I would refer you to Department of Justice to give you the specifics on that. As you know, there's an ongoing process. There's a review currently occurring. Got you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thanks, Karine. Can you shed any light on how the documents got to these places, and why?

JEAN-PIERRE: Yes, there's an ongoing process. It's being reviewed. Don't have any -- don't have more to share. I'm going to let the Department of Justice answer any questions, as they're looking at this.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did the White House think that the appointment of a special prosecutor was warned? JEAN-PIERRE: I'm not going to get into the decisions that was made by the Attorney General. I will say this, and you've heard me say this many times before. This is a President that believes in the independence of the Justice Department. This is something that he has been saying since the campaign, and you've heard me say this over and over and restoring that independence.

So, look, we have been very, very careful here not to appear from the White House to influence their decision making on any number of issues, as you've heard me say over and over again. I've said this many times. I'm sure someone has counted the amount of times that I've said that the Department of Justice is independent and we respect their independence.

I'm certainly not going to comment on -- or give my opinion, or -- are we going to give our opinion on what the Attorney General laid out today.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What broadly does the White House make of comparisons between President Biden's handling of documents and former President Trump's handling?

JEAN-PIERRE: I'm not going to get into politics from here. What I can say is what I've laid out, which is the President takes this very seriously. He does. He said this twice. And he did not know that the records were there when they were found. He does not know what's in them. And what he did and what his team did is the minute that they realize that the documents were there.

They reached out to the archives, they reach out to the Department of Justice, and I'll just leave it -- I'll leave it there and I leave you all to pontificate and do your punditry. I will not do that from here. OK.

[15:40:01]

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Thanks Karine. Any statement from the special counsel, that the second set of documents of that the lawyers have completed the ongoing review by the President's legal team last night? Does that mean there are no other locations where documents can be stored? There's no other search underway at this moment in time for documents request President sign.

JEAN-PIERRE: So as -- I'm just going to -- again, that statement pretty much lays -- it lays it out that they have -- as far as the lawyers, they look through the places where documents could have been stored, and the Counsel's Office released a statement on that. Now it is in the hands of the Special Counsel.

MATTINGLY: So we should assume that it has been completed?

JEAN-PIERRE: You should assume that it's been completed, yes.

MATTINGLY: OK. And I just want to score something that Chris was asking about. The review was underway when you guys gave a detailed statement about the first set of documents. The review was underway when the President spoke about the first set of documents.

You're now saying that you didn't talk about the second set of documents discovered almost a month prior because the review was underway. I mean, I don't -- it doesn't make any sense.

JEAN-PIERRE: No, I think --

MATTINGLY: The review was underway the entire time. The only difference was that reporters had information on the first set of documents, and therefore you chose to exclude the second set of documents until reporters get information on the second set of documents.

JEAN-PIERRE: Well, let me unconfuse you for a second, Phil. Look, we are trying to do this by the book. And I said yesterday, this was under review by the Department of Justice. And the process is as such. When the President's lawyers realized that the documents existed, that they were there, they reached out to the Archives. They reached out to the Department of justice, rightfully so, may I add.

That is what you're supposed to do. As lawyers, that's what they did. And they have fully been cooperating with the Department of Justice. And again, I said this earlier in answering a question you heard from the Attorney General. He said shortly after the documents were discovered, they -- that we did outreach -- the President's lawyers did outreach to the Department of Justice and Archive.

MATTINGLY: Nobody's questioning that. That's not what we're asking about. We're asking about --

JEAN-PIERRE: I'm telling you, though, there's a process. I just laid out what the process is. And I'm telling you that we were trying to do this by the book, and it was an ongoing process. I'm not going to get beyond that, but that is how this works.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How can you say this was transparent when you saw this information for more than two months?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you, Karine.

JEAN-PIERRE: Thank you, Ed (ph).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are seeking information, and I appreciate and understand why the press office can only say so much. So help us understand this. Who are the President's personal counsel that the Attorney General referred to today?

JEAN-PIERRE: I have to -- I was asked that question earlier. Let me get back to you. I actually don't have that answer. I think I know who it is, but I want to make 100 percent correct.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bob Bauer is one, potentially Dana Remus, James Garland, Robert Lennon.

JEAN-PIERRE: Look --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are they the ones that have been contacted the Justice Department?

JEAN-PIERRE: Look, again, I don't want to -- I want to say the right thing from here, so I -- we would have to -- I would have talk to the White House Counsel, or you would have to reach out to the White House Counsel to talk about who is his personal lawyers. Who are.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The first set of documents were found in November at the Penn Binding Center here in Washington. Why did it take until yesterday, until this morning apparently for whoever it was to inform Robert Lausch (ph) that that final document was found? Was that because there were press reports earlier this week?

JEAN-PIERRE: Again --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And the hope was that nobody would find out?

JEAN-PIERRE: Again --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Or was it because --

JEAN-PIERRE: -- there's a process and ongoing process that is occurring. We did this by the book. And what I mean by that is the moment that the lawyers discovered that the papers were there or the documents were there, they reached out to the Archives, they reached out to Department of Justice and they immediately, rightfully so, reached out to them to let them know what they had discovered.

And that is the process. That is what we -- that is what his lawyers did. And again, it's an ongoing process. As you stated in your question, I am limited in what I can say. It is now in the hands of the Department of Justice. They are reviewing this as you know. The Special Counsel was announced by the Attorney General, and so I will leave it there.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What was the President trying to say when he referenced his Corvette earlier today? Because it sounded like he was implying that because his garage is a safe place for his car, the documents were safe. Then, therefore, if it was safe for the car, it was safe for the documents. Is that what he meant?

JEAN-PIERRE: Look, I'm going to just leave his statement as is. I think your colleagues was having a back and forth with the President. You can read the transcript of what was asked of him and why he responded that way. I'm just not going to get into specifics.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And you talk about, we are being transparent. Who is we and what is the definition of transparent in this case? Is it the lawyers being transparent legally with the Archives and the Justice Department or is it the White House writ large being transparent with the general public?

JEAN-PIERRE: So number one, and I've said this multiple times already, we take this very seriously. The President takes this very seriously. He was not aware that the records were there.

[15:45:09] He does not know what is in the documents. Again, classified information, classified documents. He takes very seriously. When they were discovered -- and this is the right thing to do, right -- his lawyers reached out immediately to the Archivist. They reached out to Department of Justice to let them know that the papers or the documents --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) is it the Archivist or the Justice Department? Because the Attorney General this morning said that the attorneys reached out to the Archives. It was only later in December when the second batch was apparently (INAUDIBLE) --

JEAN-PIERRE: I will --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- and then they were reaching out to the Justice Department.

JEAN-PIERRE: I will leave it to what the Department of Justice is laying out. What we are saying that, we reached out to the Archivist, we reached out to the Department of Justice. That is what is the right thing to do in this case. And, so I can finish here, what has been transparent in this as well is that the White House Counsel has laid out in detail on Monday to all of you --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) everything, Karine, and you know that.

JEAN-PIERRE: First of all, I can't talk about this, right? Because this is -- the Department of Justice is reviewing it. There is a review happening, Ed, right? You know this. We just heard from the Attorney General, there is a review. I am limited in what I can say to this.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And could Richard Sauber perhaps come here?

JEAN-PIERRE: I think you should reach out to the White House Counsel.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're reaching on a constant basis.

JEAN-PIERRE: OK.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So why not (INAUDIBLE).

JEAN-PIERRE: OK. I am saying to you that we have put out lengthy statements and you can reach out to them, as you all have been doing, and I will leave it there. Go ahead.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Then why not have them come and answer these questions?

JEAN-PIERRE: I -- they have been talking to you all pretty regularly the last couple of days. We have put out, they have put out lengthy statements on this. I just read out what Richard Sauber had to say. And I would refer you to the White House Counsel.

I am limited in what I can say because, because the Department of Justice, we see them as being independent when it comes to these types of issues. And so I'm not going to go beyond what the President said, and I'm not going to go beyond what the lawyers say.

I have to go around. You've asked me about -- you've asked me -- Ed?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Inaudible) that there's going to be a limit in transparency, public, non-legal transparency, and what can be shared and said by this way.

JEAN-PIERRE: I disagree. There has -- I disagree, Ed. There has not been a limit of transparency. That is -- there has not been a limit of transparency. That, I will disagree with you on that. Justin. Justin.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thanks, Karine. I did want to kind of follow on what Ed and Phil were asking, which is, putting aside the question of whether the President's lawyers acted properly in handling the documents over. There's this lingering question of why there wasn't an acknowledgement of the second set of documents earlier this week.

And you said that you're working through a process and going by the book. And what I'm curious is, if you're trying to sort of hint at the idea that the Justice Department asked you not to reveal the second set of documents or you were told in some way not to disclose anything that had not been made public?

JEAN-PIERRE: I would not jump to those two conclusions. That is not what I'm stating. I am genuinely saying to you there is an ongoing process that we are going to follow, and I am limited in what I can say from here. That is why my White House Council colleagues are -- we refer to them these past couple of days. Now, this is in the hands of Department of Justice, as you all heard from the Attorney General himself.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think -- I guess I remain confused, if the Justice Department didn't ask you not to disclose these documents, why on Monday, as this news was coming out Tuesday, as the President was talking about it. You didn't say, here's everything we know at this point. You know, the first that was found at the Penn Biden Center, the second set was found at his office, we're searching to make sure that there's nothing else.

JEAN-PIERRE: Because there's an ongoing process and you heard directly from the Attorney General today. And that is the process. That is how this is going to go. It is not going to come from here, from me at this podium. It is going to come from the Department of Justice. And that is -- there's the process that's happening currently.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I feel slightly bad about Chase (ph) and Kirby from the room, so I'm going to ask you one thing, not about the special counsel --

JEAN-PIERRE: We had to go. Now, you can now ask a question that you could have asked to Kirby.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, it wasn't for Kirby, it was for you.

JEAN-PIERRE: OK. You got a question yesterday, actually, about Moderna raising the prices of the COVID vaccine and said that you take the question, I was wondering --

JEAN-PIERRE: And I did. I actually did, and Michael is not here. I was going to provide this information to him today. So, I don't want -- first, I don't want anybody to be confused here. As you know, this is incredibly important. So you can go to 90,000 locations and get a Moderna or any COVID-19 shot for free.

That is currently what folks can do, and they are our best protection against the XBB.1.5 right now. So please, if you haven't, please go get your shot. As you've heard from me, as you've heard from our COVID-19 team here, has been very clear on why this is important and why folks should they get their shots.

[15:50:09]

As it relates to the question, what Senator Sanders is talking about is future shots and the process of moving forward, moving toward a commercial market for COVID shots. So we share this concern that those shots should be affordable. That is something that we share the concern with Senator Sanders.

The price hike here is hard to understand or to justify. Again, we do have those concerns as well, and we believe that shot should be affordable (INAUDIBLE).

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. A couple of basic geography questions you may not be able to answer, but is the library a room adjacent to the garage?

JEAN-PIERRE: Again, I don't have any of this information that I can provide. I would -- this is under review. I would refer you to Department of Justice. I'm just not going to go into specifics here. Not something that I can do from here.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And is the President's Corvette stored in the garage where the documents were found, just for pure (INAUDIBLE) purposes?

JEAN-PIERRE: I will basically repeat what the President said. His Corvette is in the garage. I'm not going to go beyond what the President said.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK. .And on the transparency issue, would you admit that earlier this week, the White House shared incomplete information? I think that when we all heard Merrick Garland say that these documents of the residents were found on December 20, that they were notified, that was pretty surprising to all of us based on the statements that you and the President and the Council's office had made.

JEAN-PIERRE: Well, as I just said, that as you saw in our statement, the documents that were found last night, right, they completed the search with documents being found last night. And then this morning, we put out -- you heard from the White House Counsel, we put out the information on specifically what was found.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But just one document was found last night.

JEAN-PIERRE: The search was continuing. It was ongoing. The process, as I've been saying, was ongoing. And the search is clearly complete. And therefore, we shared the information with all of you. Again, this is an ongoing process. I would refer you to Department of Justice any other specifics or particulars, even on timeline or any other questions that you have.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE).

JEAN-PIERRE: I'm going to go back. Go ahead.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is some (INAUDIBLE) follow up to a couple of questions, but is the President confident -- you said that the search has been completed, but is the President confident that there are no additional documents with classified markings that remain in any other additional locations?

JEAN-PIERRE: Look, I can just refer you to what his team said. The search is complete. He is confident in this process, and I will leave it there. And they've been cooperating very closely with the Department of Justice.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And we've gotten a statement that the White House did not get advanced notice that Garland was appointing --

JEAN-PIERRE: That is correct.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: -- Special Counsel. When did the President learn? How did he learn? Was it from the press conference? Did he get a heads up before that?

JEAN-PIERRE: We learned from the press conference.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The President?

JEAN-PIERRE: The President, we were not giving a heads up, and we learned from the press conference.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But he was in a funeral at the time. When did somebody tell him?

JEAN-PIERRE: Look, he was at a funeral. To your point, maybe one of his senior advisers may have told him. I actually don't know specifically when he knew. But what I can say to you, he was -- we were not giving a heads up that I can confirm, as you all know already.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And have you had a chance to talk to him since then, you can give us his reaction?

JEAN-PIERRE: No, I have not had a chance to talk to the President about this or his reaction. OK?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Does the White House feel like House Republicans have a right to conduct an investigation on documents issue? They have, of course, started sending requests and saying they're going to look into this. Does that fall in the realm of sort of legitimate requests from House Republicans right now?

JEAN-PIERRE: Look, I'm not going to speak to what the House Republicans decide to do. What I can speak to is that we are -- the President's lawyers is complying, they are working on this with the Department of Justice, as they have been. Again, this is something that the President takes very seriously, when it comes to classified information, when it comes to classified documents. I'm just not going to go into what the Republicans on the House do or don't do.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sorry, just separate from this. I was wondering if the White House had any thought on the Senate primary in California that's shaping up.

JEAN-PIERRE: So, as you know, the President sees Senator Feinstein as a long-time friend and also a colleague who he deeply respects and has collaborated on historic pieces of legislations over the years, and such as the last federal ban on assault weapons. So he respects the talented officials in California who are expressing interest in running for her seat.

And we are prohibited from here, as you know, about -- talking about campaigns or elections, not something that I can do from the podium. So it would be inappropriate for me to weigh in with more specifics on any forthcoming Senate race, including the one in California. But clearly, he sees her as a longtime friend and colleague.

Yes, Joe (ph)?

[15:55:07]

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, the President when he was in Mexico City and asked about the classified documents that were found in the private office at the Penn Biden Center, said that he didn't know what the documents contained or what was in them. Is that the case also with the documents found at his Wilmington residence that he didn't -- he doesn't know what those documents involved?

JEAN-PIERRE: Yes, I already answered the question and he does not know. He is not aware of that, that the records were there. I'll come over.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sorry, could you just clarify a little bit more about when you say that we informed the Archives, or the Department of Justice immediately, since this happens in various points in time, what exactly was that at which juncture? Because it seems we do have some conflict there in some (INAUDIBLE).

JEAN-PIERRE: Look, again, I will refer you to the Department of Justice. What I can tell you is that his lawyers reached out to the Archivist, to the Department of Justice, which is what you're supposed to do, which is the right thing to do. I'm not going to get into specifics of who they reached out to first. I would refer you to the White House Counsel to get more specifics. It is an ongoing process and I would again, refer to either the White House Counsel, the Department of Justice for that specific question. Go ahead, Christine (ph).

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: .Just a couple of outstanding clarifications before I get to questions. Sauber said there were documents in the garage and one document in an adjacent room. Merrick Garland said the DOJ was informed of one additional document this morning. Is that the same document, an additional document, and the document found in the adjacent room?

JEAN-PIERRE: So let me just say, during the review, and this is -- so that folks know -- the lawyers discovered among personal and political papers, a small number of additional Obama-Biden administration records with classified markings. All but one of these documents were found in storage space in the President's Wilmington residence garage.

One document consisting of one page was discovered among stored materials in an adjacent room. No documents were found in the Rehoboth Beach House. Look, I just want to underscore that this is something, again, that the President takes very seriously. It underscores how we executed the search with the DOJ to make sure that they continued cooperating fully with the review.

And I think that is what we are trying to be very clear about is that we have been -- the President's lawyers has been cooperating fully, fully. And I'm not going to get into the specifics as to you have the statement, I would refer you to the President's lawyer or anything else specifically on this or the Department of Justice because they are actually reviewing this currently.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If you go back to something we were trying to pin down yesterday, can you tell us today when did the President find out initially about that first batch of documents and then the second batch? Our reporting says he was told on November 2. Is that true?

JEAN-PIERRE: So what I can say to you is that the President has been kept informed by his counsel throughout this process. I --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) found anything?

JEAN-PIERRE: -- don't have a specific date, but I can tell you that the President was kept informed throughout. Don't have a timeline to share for you right now. Again, this is under ongoing review and so want to be careful and prudent of what I share here at the podium.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can you talk when the search started and why they were searching in the first place? Was the President concerned that there may be classified documents? Did someone tip them off? What sparked this?

JEAN-PIERRE: Again, I'm just not going to go into details from here. I'm not going to go into specifics from here. This is an undergoing -- this review is continuing. It's ongoing. I would refer you to Department of Justice. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When you have said it repeatedly, the President has said he takes classified documents very seriously. If that's the case, why were these classified documents being stored in his garage?

JEAN-PIERRE: Look, again, and not just me, he has said this. You have heard the President say this twice already, and he has said this before, classified documents and information, he takes that very seriously. And you see --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you think the garage is an appropriate place to store classified documents?

JEAN-PIERRE: I'm not going to go into what he thinks or how he feels about what is currently happening. What I can say for sure when it comes to this specific issue about classified documents, about classified information, he takes that very seriously. He did not know, right? He did not know the records were there. He was surprised that the records were there.

So let's be very clear, that is something that the President shared with all of you on the world stage and also recently today. And so, what he -- what occurred was, as I've said multiple times before, is when his team identified that these records existed. They handed them over to the Archivist and also the Department of Justice.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just one more, Karine. Do you acknowledge that the fact that the White House did not reveal this to the public, despite the fact that you've known about it for months, undercuts the President's promise of being transparent with the American?

JEAN-PIERRE: But here's the thing, they were transparent.