WASHINGTON (AP) – President Joe Biden is a man who writes his thoughts. And some of his handwritten thoughts over decades of public service are now part of a special counsel’s investigation into his handling of classified documents.
It’s not clear what investigators are looking for with records from his time as vice president and decades in the Senate found at Delaware homes in Rehoboth Beach and Wilmington.
Biden’s lawyers did not say the notes were considered classified, only that they were removed. But during his 36 years in the Senate and eight years as vice president, Biden has had a front-row seat to many highly sensitive moments in US history, including the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the death of Osama bin Laden in 2011 and the political unrest in Ukraine.
The special counsel is working to determine how classified information from Biden’s time as senator and vice president came into his home and former office — and whether any of it was criminal or accidental. But they also have to determine if the records taken are considered private and therefore belong to Biden, then they will be returned.
Some of the documents seized by Trump also had handwritten notes, according to the FBI. When seeking permission to search Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in August, FBI agents wrote in an affidavit that some documents returned to the National Archives last January contained what appeared to be Trump’s handwriting. The affidavit did not say whether agents believed the notes to discuss classified material.
AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File
According to the Presidential Records Act, the administrative records of the presidency are generally included in the National Archives, especially confidential items. There are some exceptions, including when records are determined to be private only.
But even handwritten notes can be considered classified if someone records observations related to confidential documents or summaries. These records may be considered classified even if they are not marked as such.
Larry Pfeiffer, former senior director of the White House situation room and chief of staff for retired CIA Director Michael Hayden, said that when taking notes during secret or top-secret meetings, he would mark each page by a certain level of classification.
“It was quite clear in those meetings that they were hearing classified information,” he said. When Pfeiffer left the CIA, he sent the notebook to the agency’s archives.
Longtime aides say Biden has kept a private diary for decades, though the only public glimpses of it so far have been in Biden’s book “Promise Me, Father,” which chronicles the heartache and grief of a representative president when his son Beau died. cancer diagnosis.
In the book, Biden quotes passages he wrote in his diary about Beau’s condition and death that he wrote on Air Force Two, at the vice president’s residence at the Naval Observatory in Washington, and at his home in Wilmington, as well as some he wrote when he considered whether going to run for president in 2016. In the book, Biden describes taking notes while he is a supportive parent to a sick family member and generally maintains a schedule of official meetings and phone calls.
AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File
She detailed how she had a secure phone installed at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston so she could work while she was with her son while Beau underwent treatment. But he also wrote about the debate over whether he would run for office in 2016:
“‘A lot has happened,’ I wrote in my diary when I finally got some downtime in Wilmington the following weekend. ‘Need to be careful not to get too far from me. I need to slow down, busy my schedule.'”
It is not known whether handwritten notes may have been turned over to the Justice Department by former Vice President Mike Pence or whether any writings by former President Donald Trump while in office were found when the FBI searched his Florida estate last year.
It’s also unclear whether former presidents and new vice presidents will make personal records written during their terms available for review to determine if they contain federal records or potential information that should be classified.
Attorney General Merrick Garland and Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines declined to discuss the investigation or brief members of Congress.
The leader of the Senate Intelligence Committee sent a third letter Thursday asking Garland and Haines to allow the panel to view the papers in secret and be briefed on potential risks to national security.
Sens Mark Warner of Virginia and Marco Rubio of Florida wrote that without access to the document, “we cannot effectively monitor the efforts of the Intelligence Community to address the potential risks to national security arising from the mishandling of this classified information.”
There is precedent for keeping private records: Access to Ronald Reagan’s private diaries was sought after he left office by former national security adviser John Poindexter while facing trial for his role in the Iran-Contra affair. A federal judge granted Reagan’s request for executive privilege to protect the diaries from disclosure.
Reagan often wrote about the substance of his official meetings – including details about secret sessions – and his impressions of world leaders, often interspersed with general details about his life like dinner parties and private phone calls. But it was not until after Reagan’s death and with the consent of his widow, Nancy Reagan, that it was published.
There have been several cases in recent years of high-level officials mishandling records of covert operations. Former CIA Director David Petraeus is accused of handling eight notebooks of classified notes and failing to collect them while leading US and allied forces in Afghanistan. According to the plea agreement, Petraeus kept the books in his private possession and allowed his biographer, who was having an affair, to examine them.
He pleaded guilty in 2015 to one count of unlawful removal and retention of classified material and received probation.
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was found by the FBI to have discussed classified material in emails stored on her private server. Some of the emails had classified information when they were sent, while others were classified during the FBI’s investigation into the use of the server.
FBI Director James Comey recommended against charging Clinton in 2016 because he said there was no clear evidence Clinton or any of her subordinates intended to violate classified information laws.
Biden’s lawyers closed their offices at the Penn Biden Center think tank last November when they discovered classified documents in a locked cabinet. The records were sent to the Department of Justice. But after Biden’s lawyers searched his Wilmington home and found additional classified items, Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed a special counsel to investigate. Biden said he was surprised the documents existed, and cooperated with investigators, including voluntarily agreeing to an FBI search.
When FBI agents searched Biden’s home in Wilmington last month, they “also recovered personal handwritten notes from the vice presidential years,” according to his attorney, Bob Bauer. When the FBI searched his Rehoboth Beach home on Wednesday, they seized “some materials and handwritten notes that appeared to be related to his time as Vice President” but found no other classified documents, according to Bauer.
The White House declined to comment on what was in Biden’s records, other than to say some writings related to his time as vice president.
“I think they want to make sure the Justice Department has access to the information they need to sift through the materials as part of the ongoing investigation,” White House spokesman Ian Sams said Wednesday. “Therefore, I will not characterize the basic content too much.”