President Biden leaves Saint Edmond Catholic Church in Rehoboth Beach, Del. after attending Mass on January 21.
Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images
hide captions
switch captions
Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images
President Biden leaves Saint Edmond Catholic Church in Rehoboth Beach, Del. after attending Mass on January 21.
Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images
Justice Department officials spent more than 12 hours searching President Biden’s mansion in Wilmington, Del. on Friday, and found six new classified documents.
Biden’s personal attorney, Bob Bauer, announced the unusual development in a statement Saturday night. The Justice Department declined to comment on the search.
Bauer said some documents date back to Biden’s time as a senator, while others date back to his time as vice president. He said the DOJ has also recorded some handwritten notes for further review.
It is the latest in a series of revelations that raise questions about Biden’s handling of classified documents, and comes after the White House said a search of Biden’s residence was complete.
Biden was defiant on the matter, telling reporters on Thursday he had “no regrets” about how he and his team handled the discovery and disclosure of the documents.
“I think you’ll see nothing there,” Biden told reporters.
There are similarities to the Trump document investigation
The investigation comes as the Justice Department investigates a trove of documents that former President Donald Trump brought to his personal residence in Florida when he left the White House. Now there are two important similarities in the two cases.
Attorney General Merrick Garland has now appointed special prosecutors to investigate each of the actions of current and former presidents.
And now, both the current and former president’s homes have been ransacked by law enforcement.
Biden’s White House has been annoyed by the comparison, repeatedly insisting that Biden was fully cooperative while Trump repeatedly obstructed investigators.
The White House has been selective in releasing the documents
White House officials have emphasized that Biden is cooperating with the investigation — even as they have repeatedly made vague, incomplete, and sometimes misleading public statements about the scope of the investigation. check.
The investigation began after Biden’s attorneys found documents in his private office on November 2, they found more documents in his Wilmington garage on December 20, and one document. other documents in his home on January 11. On January 14, a White House attorney found additional documents.
Bauer said in his statement Friday’s search of Biden’s residence was kept secret until Saturday night because the Justice Department requested it be private.
Bauer said that Biden representatives “recommended to provide prompt access” to the Justice Department to search Biden’s home for documents.
They’ve gone through decades of notes, records, memorabilia, and to-do lists
According to Bauer, searchers have gone through “personal handwritten notes, files, papers, file covers, memorabilia, to-do lists, schedules, and reminders from decades ago” and “possessed documents they deemed to be within the scope of their investigation.”
That includes “six items that include documents with classified markings and surrounding documents,” some of which date back to Biden’s time in the Senate, Bauer said. The DOJ also took some “personal handwritten notes” from Biden’s time as vice president.
He said the search began around 9:45 a.m. ET and ended around 10:30 a.m. ET, and “covered all working, living and storage spaces within home”.
Representatives from Biden’s personal legal team and the White House Attorney’s office were present.
Neither Biden nor the First Lady was in Wilmington during the search. They go home to Wilmington most weekends, as Biden did during his time in public office. Instead, when Biden chose to visit his beach house in mid-January, it raised questions about whether the Rehoboth Beach visit was related to the ongoing document investigation.
On Friday, Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was asked directly whether the visit was related to the investigation of classified documents. “He often goes to Delaware on weekends. I have nothing else to share,” Jean-Pierre replied.
A teleprompter displays remarks made by Attorney General Merrick Garland on January 12 when he announced a Special Counsel to investigate classified documents found in President Biden’s files.
Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images
hide captions
switch captions
Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images
A teleprompter displays remarks made by Attorney General Merrick Garland on January 12 when he announced a Special Counsel to investigate classified documents found in President Biden’s files.
Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images
