Biden documents bungle seen as political black eye before 2024 launch

This week’s revelations that U.S. President Joe Biden stored classified documents in his Delaware home from his time as vice president has caused a
political headache for him and the Democratic party, just as he approaches a difficult re-election bid.
Biden began 2023 buoyed by unexpectedly strong midterm election results for Democrats. Since then inflation has fallen, and the opposition Republican Party appeared in such public disarray that it took days to elect a speaker of the House of Representatives.
The president, 80, was poised to ride that wave into an announcement that he will make another run for the White House, perhaps as soon as next month, after the State of the Union address on Feb. 7, sources told Reuters.
But Attorney General Merrick Garland’s naming of a special counsel on Thursday to probe the Biden administration’s document handling has neutralized Democrats’ ability to target former President Donald Trump, Republicans’ top 2024 candidate so far, over classified documents.