FBI searched Joe Biden’s home, six additional documents marked classified found
- Earlier, the President had said that he had ‘no regrets’ about his handling of the discovery of classified documents at his private office and Wilmington home, and predicted an investigation would find no wrongdoing.
The FBI when searched President Joe Biden’s home in Wilmington, Delaware on Friday found six additional documents containing classification markings and also took possession of some of his notes, the president’s lawyer said on Saturday.
Bob Bauer who is president's personal lawyer, said the search of the entire premises lasted nearly 13 hours.
The documents, as he stated, were from the time in the Senate and the vice presidency, while the notes dated to Biden's time as vice president.
The search team followed more than a week after Biden’s attorneys found six other classified documents in the president’s home library from his time as vice president, and nearly three months after lawyers found a small number of classified records at his former offices at the Penn Biden Center in Washington.
On 20 January, the President said that he had “no regrets” about his handling of the discovery of classified documents at his private office and Wilmington home, and predicted an investigation would find no wrongdoing.
“As we found the handful of documents were filed in the wrong place, we immediately turned them over to the Archives and the Justice Department,” Biden told reporters in California after touring damage from recent storms. “We’re fully cooperating, looking forward to getting this resolved quickly. I think you’re going to find there’s nothing there.”
Biden said he was “fully cooperating and looking forward to getting this resolved quickly.”
While the search was going on, the president and first lady Jill Biden were not at the home. They were spending the weekend at their home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, as reported by AP.
Bauer said the FBI requested that the White House not comment on the search before it was conducted, and that Biden's personal and White House attorneys were present. The FBI, he added, “had full access to the President’s home, including personally handwritten notes, files, papers, binders, memorabilia, to-do lists, schedules, and reminders going back decades."
The Justice Department, he added, “took possession of materials it deemed within the scope of its inquiry, including six items consisting of documents with classification markings and surrounding materials, some of which were from the President’s service in the Senate and some of which were from his tenure as Vice President."
Last week, Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the appointment of a special counsel to investigate the discovery of the classified documents at a think tank office Biden used after serving as vice president, as well as in two areas of his house in Wilmington, Delaware.
Garland had previously appointed a special counsel to investigate the discovery of classified documents at the home of former President Donald Trump, and questions about whether he or his associates deliberately misled government officials seeking their return.
“Since the beginning, the President has been committed to handling this responsibly because he takes this seriously,” White House lawyer Richard Sauber said Saturday. “The President’s lawyers and White House Counsel’s Office will continue to cooperate with DOJ and the Special Counsel to help ensure this process is conducted swiftly and efficiently.”
The Biden document discoveries and the investigation into Trump, which is in the hands of special counsel Jack Smith, are significantly different. The Justice Department says Trump took hundreds of records marked classified with him upon leaving the White House in early 2021 and resisted months of requests to return them to the government. Biden has made a point of cooperating with the DOJ probe at every turn, though questions about his transparency with the public remain.
(With inputs from AP)
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Business NewsNewsWorldFBI searched Joe Biden’s home, six additional documents marked classified found
First Published:22 Jan 2023, 06:41 AM IST
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