WASHINGTON (AP) – The FBI searched President Joe Biden’s home in Wilmington, Delaware, on Friday and found additional documents with classified markings and also took some of his handwritten notes, the president’s lawyer said Saturday.
The president voluntarily allowed the FBI into his home, but the absence of a search warrant did not diminish the extraordinary nature of the search. It adds to the embarrassment for Biden that began with the January 12 disclosure that the president’s attorneys had found a “small number” of classified records in his former office at the Penn Biden Center in Washington shortly before the midterm elections. Since then, lawyers have found six classified documents in the Wilmington home library of Biden since he became vice president.
Although Biden remains “not there,” the discovery has become a political liability as he prepares to launch his re-election bid, and he has undermined his efforts to project an image of propriety to the American public after the previous terrible president. Donald Trump.
During Friday’s search, which lasted nearly 13 hours, the FBI took six items containing classified documents, said Bob Bauer, the president’s personal lawyer. The items spanned Biden’s time in the Senate and the vice presidency, while the records date back to when he was vice president, he said. The level of classification, and whether the documents removed by the FBI remain classified, was not immediately clear as the Justice Department reviewed the records.
Assistant US Attorney Joseph Fitzpatrick confirmed on Friday that the FBI had conducted “a planned, consensual search” of the president’s residence in Wilmington.
The president and first lady Jill Biden were not at home when they searched. He spends the weekend at his home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.
Speaking to reporters during a trip to California on Thursday, Biden said he was “cooperating fully and looking forward to getting it resolved as soon as possible.”
“We found some documents that were filed in the wrong place,” Biden said. “We immediately sent it to the Archives and the Department of Justice.”
It remains to be seen whether additional searches by federal officials at other locations are possible. Biden’s personal attorney previously conducted a search of his Rehoboth Beach home and said he found no official documents or confidential records.
The Biden investigation also complicates the Justice Department’s investigation into Trump’s retention of classified documents and official records after he left office. The Justice Department said Trump took hundreds of classified documents with him when he left the White House in early 2021 and has refused months of requests to return them to the government, requiring a search warrant to retrieve them.
Bauer said the FBI asked the White House not to comment on the search before it took place, and that Biden’s personal and White House attorneys were present. The FBI, he added, “has full access to the President’s home, including handwritten notes, files, papers, binders, memorabilia, to-do lists, schedules, and memorabilia dating back decades.”
The Department of Justice, he added, “took materials considered to be within the scope of the investigation, including six items that include documents with classified marks and surrounding materials, some from the President’s service in the Senate and some from his position as Vice President .”
Attorney General Merrick Garland has appointed former Maryland U.S. Attorney Robert Hur as special counsel to investigate possible wrongdoing surrounding the Biden documents. Hur is set to take over from Illinois US Attorney John Lausch who was appointed by Trump to oversee the investigation.
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“From the beginning, the President has been committed to handling this responsibly because he takes this very seriously,” White House lawyer Richard Sauber said Saturday. “The President’s attorney and the White House Counsel’s Office will continue to work with the DOJ and the Special Counsel to help ensure this process is carried out quickly and efficiently.”
The discovery of the Biden documents and the investigation into Trump, which is in the hands of special counsel Jack Smith, are very different. Biden has made a point of cooperating with the DOJ investigation at every turn — and Friday’s search was voluntary — despite questions about his transparency with the public.
For the crime committed, the person must have “removed” the document without authorization and wanted to keep it in an “unauthorized location”. Biden said he was “shocked” that classified documents were found at the Penn Biden Center.
Generally, classified documents must be declassified after a maximum of 25 years. But some notes of such value remain classified for longer, although special exceptions must be granted. Biden served in the Senate from 1973 to 2009.
Associated Press writer Seung Min Kim in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, contributed to this report.