MOSCOW, January 12. /TASS/. Former NSA (National Security Agency) employee and whistleblower Edward Snowden said on Thursday that US President Joe Biden (during his tenure as vice president) "absconded" with more classified documents than many whistleblowers.

"Worth noting that the President seems to have absconded with more classified documents than many whistleblowers. For comparison, Reality Winner was sentenced to 5 YEARS for just one document," Snowden tweeted, commenting on the news that documents marked as classified had been found in Biden’s namesake think tank.

He also noted that prior to Biden, others having been in illicit possession of secret docs include former US presidents Donald Trump and Bill Clinton, as well as ex-CIA boss David Petraeus - "these guys have dozens, hundreds. No jail," Snowden argued.

On Monday, CBS News reported, citing sources, that roughly ten documents, marked classified, from Biden’s tenure as Vice President under Obama were found at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement in Washington.

The White House confirmed that the documents were found by the president’s personal attorneys on November 2, 2022, who then notified the National Archives, where all such papers must be turned in. Its staff alerted the US Department of Justice, which is looking into how the classified documents got into the think tank’s building. This is a preliminary step, after which the head of the Justice Department will have to decide on a further investigation and the appointment of a special prosecutor to deal with the case.