The US Justice Department conducted a 13-hour long, extensive search in President Joe Biden’s Wilmington home and seized six more classified documents, some from his time in the Senate and others from his eight-year tenure as Vice President, the president’s personal attorney announced on Saturday night, according to The Washington Post.
After conducting an extensive search in Biden’s home, six classified documents were found including personally handwritten notes, files, papers, and binders that covered decades of his work and his personal attorney described them as “documents with classification markings and surrounding materials.” The Justice Department also took some of Biden’s handwritten notes from his vice-presidential years to further review them.
“In the interest of moving the process forward as expeditiously as possible, we offered to provide prompt access to his home,” Bob Bauer, a lawyer for the president said.
According to The Washington Post, both the current and most recent previous presidents have had federal investigators search their homes extensively while special counsels probe the handling of secret material.
Previously, Biden’s special counsel revealed to CNN on January 9 that classified records from his tenure as vice president were located in a private office space and turned over to the National Archives in November.
Though the initial records were discovered on November 2, the news was not made public until last week, when CBS, a US-based television broadcasting business, announced their existence. Other records have now been discovered at Biden’s residence in Wilmington, Delaware.
According to two people familiar with the investigation, Attorney General Merrick Garland instructed the US attorney in Chicago to evaluate secret materials discovered at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement in Washington. According to insiders, the records are from President Biden’s vice-presidential office at the White House. According to CBS News, the FBI is also participating in the US Attorney’s investigation.
According to CNN, Attorney General Merrick Garland has requested the US Attorney in Chicago to examine the situation, and congressional Republicans are taking note. When a federal officeholder’s government employment expires, the law requires them to return official documents and classified records.
“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,” Richard Sauber, special counsel to President Biden, said in a statement.
“The documents were discovered when the President’s personal attorneys were packing files housed in a locked closet to prepare to vacate office space at the Penn Biden Centre in Washington. The President periodically used this space from mid-2017 until the start of the 2020 campaign. On the day of this discovery, November 2, 2022, the White House Counsel’s Office notified the National Archives. The Archives took possession of the materials the following morning. The discovery of these documents was made by the President’s attorneys,” Sauber added.
