US authorities have discovered a new trove of classified documents at Joe Biden’s private home, adding fuel to growing political unrest over possible mishandling of sensitive government files.
Bob Bauer, Biden’s personal lawyer, in a statement on Friday said the Department of Justice found materials including six documents with classified signatures in a search that was carried out in front of the president in Wilmington, Delaware.
Bauer said the DoJ has “full access” to the home, including memorabilia, handwritten notes, schedules and to-do lists. Some of the material the agency has is from Biden’s time in the Senate, and some from his tenure as Barack Obama’s vice president, he added.
“[I]In the interest of moving the process along as quickly as possible, we are offering expedited access to his home to allow the DoJ to conduct an all-purpose search of potential vice presidential records and potentially classified material,” Bauer said. Biden’s personal attorney is “fully” cooperating with authorities, he added.
The new findings come less than two weeks after Merrick Garland, the US Attorney General, appointed a special counsel to investigate possible mishandling of the files, citing “extraordinary circumstances”. Robert Hur, a Washington-based attorney and former federal prosecutor, was tapped for the role.
The DoJ described it as a “planned, consensual search” by the FBI.
Biden’s personal attorney in November found sensitive material in an office that had been used by him at the Penn Biden Center in Washington. Other documents were previously found in his private residence.
Richard Sauber, a special adviser to Biden, said in a statement on Saturday that the president “is committed to handling this responsibly because he is taking this very seriously”. Biden and his wife Jill were not present during the DoJ’s search of their Wilmington home, Sauber added.
Republicans have blasted Biden over the findings, as well as what they described as a lack of transparency in the disclosure of the documents. Republican leaders on the House judiciary committee have launched an investigation into the matter.
It has clouded the White House as Biden prepares for a re-election bid in 2024, giving Republicans ammunition and fueling unease among Democrats hopeful about the prospect of retaining the White House after a better-than-expected run. show in the 2022 midterm elections.
Biden’s successor, Donald Trump, is facing a criminal investigation into his handling of classified government files found at his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida in a raid by FBI agents last year. White House officials and Democrats have tried to draw comparisons between the two investigations, but since Trump has refused to hand over the material, while Biden has voluntarily disclosed the matter and the documents are secured in a national archive facility.