Washington — A new search of President Joe Biden’s home in Wilmington, Delaware, on Friday by the US justice department found six more items, including documents with classification markings, a lawyer for the president said on Saturday night.
Some of the classified documents and “surrounding materials” dated from Biden’s tenure in the US Senate, where he represented Delaware from 1973 to 2009, according to his lawyer, Bob Bauer. Other documents were from his tenure as vice-president in the Obama administration, from 2009 to 2017, Bauer said.
The department of justice, which conducted a search that lasted over 12 hours, also took some notes that Biden had personally handwritten as vice-president, according to the lawyer.
The president offered access to his home to allow the department “to conduct a search of the entire premises for potential vice-presidential records and potential classified material”, Bauer said.
Neither Biden nor his wife were present during the search, the attorney said. Biden is in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, for the weekend.
Justice department investigators co-ordinated the search with Biden’s lawyers ahead of time, Bauer said, and the president’s personal and White House lawyers were present.
Other classified government records were discovered this month at Biden’s Wilmington residence, and in November at a private office he maintained at a Washington, DC, think-tank after ending his tenure as vice-president in the Obama administration.
On Saturday Bauer did not make clear in his statement where in the Wilmington home the documents were found. The previous classified documents were found in the home’s garage and in a nearby storage space.
Special counsel
The search shows federal investigators are swiftly moving forward with the probe into classified documents found in Biden’s possession. This month, US attorney-general Merrick Garland named a special counsel to probe the matter.
Special counsel Robert Hur, who was appointed during the process, is investigating how the president and his team handled Obama-era classified documents that were recently found in Biden’s private possession.
Biden’s lawyers found all the documents discovered before Friday’s search, according to the White House. The latest search was the first time federal law enforcement authorities have conducted a search for government documents at Biden’s private addresses, according to information released publicly.
Republicans have compared the investigation to the ongoing probe into how former president Donald Trump handled classified documents after his presidency. The White House has noted that Biden’s team has co-operated with authorities in their probe and turned over those documents. Trump resisted doing so until an FBI search in August at his Florida resort.
The search escalates the legal and political stakes for the president, who has insisted that the previous discovery of classified material at his home and former office would eventually be deemed inconsequential.
Reuters
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