Prosecutors have seized more classified materials after President Joe Biden‘s home in Wilmington, Delaware, was searched on Friday in a secret search that lasted almost 13 hours.
The Department of Justice revealed how federal investigators found another six classified documents in what is now the fifth occasion similar documents have been retrieved.
The president and first lady Jill Biden were not at their home when it was searched. The couple are spending the weekend at their other home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.
The Justice Department stated how it ‘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 [the materials] were from the President’s service in the Senate and some of which were from his tenure as Vice President,’ Bob Bauer, the president’s personal attorney explained in a detailed statement on Saturday night.
The prosecutors also ‘took for further review personally handwritten notes from the vice-presidential years,’ he said.
President Joe Biden walks from St. Edmund Roman Catholic Church after attending Mass in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware on Saturday
Bauer said that the president’s legal team offered to provide ‘prompt access’ to Biden’s private residence ‘to allow DOJ to conduct a search of the entire premises for potential vice-presidential records and potential classified material.’
He said that the offer was made ‘in the interest of moving the process forward as expeditiously as possible.’
‘DOJ requested that the search not be made public in advance, in accordance with its standard procedures, and we agreed to cooperate,’ Bauer said in his email.
He said that on Friday, the ‘DOJ completed a thorough search of all the materials in the President’s Wilmington home.’
‘It began at approximately 9:45 AM and concluded at around 10:30 PM and covered all working, living and storage spaces in the home,’ Bauer said. ‘By agreement with DOJ, representatives of both the personal legal team and the White House Counsel’s Office were present.’
The DOJ had ‘full access to the President’s home,’ which included ‘personally handwritten notes, files, papers, binders, memorabilia, to-do lists, schedules, and reminders going back decades.’
‘DOJ also took for further review personally handwritten notes from the vice-presidential years,’ Bauer wrote in an email.
The Department of Justice has revealed how a search of President Joe Biden’s home in Wilmington, Delaware, has found another six classified documents
These latest documents are in addition to various other classified government records that had already been discovered this month at Biden’s Wilmington home. Biden, pictured Friday
The latest search was the first time it was revealed publicly that federal law enforcement authorities have conducted a search for government documents at Biden’s private addresses.
Bauer said the FBI requested that the White House not comment on the search before it was conducted.
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.’
At least a few documents were found in Biden’s garage at his Wilmington, Delaware home. Biden’s sons, Beau and Hunter, rebuilt the car for him
This latest discovery is the fifth time classified documents belonging to Biden have been found.
These latest documents are in addition to various other classified government records that had already been discovered this month at Biden’s Wilmington home.
Friday’s search came 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, and office he used after ending his tenure as VP in the Obama administration in 2017.
Earlier this month, Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed former Maryland U.S. Attorney Robert Hur as special counsel to investigate Biden’s retention of government records after he was vice president and pinpoint any potential wrongdoing surrounding the Biden documents.
The Justice Department has searched Biden’s home in Delaware and located six documents containing classification markings and also took possession of some of his notes, the president’s lawyer said Saturday
Earlier this month Biden revealed how lawyers ‘discovered a small number of documents with classified markings in storage areas and file cabinets in my home and my – my personal library.’ He also referenced the discovery of materials at the Penn Biden Center in Washington
The White House has been criticized over how it has handled the disclosure of the discovery of the documents and the search which ensued after the initial small of records was found on November 2 at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement in Washington.
That discovery came just six days before the midterm elections yet The White House waited until this month to reveal the discovery.
‘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.’
Meanwhile, former President Donald Trump is also under criminal investigation by another special counsel for taking hundreds of classified records together with other government documents from the White House when he left office.
By law, presidents and vice presidents must return government documents to the National Archives and Records Administration when they leave office.
The latest discovery of documents comes as White House chief of staff Ron Klain, who has spent more than two years as Biden’s top aide, is preparing to leave his job within weeks
The latest discovery of documents comes as White House chief of staff Ron Klain , who has spent more than two years as President Joe Biden’s top aide, is preparing to leave his job in the coming weeks, according to a person familiar with Klain’s plans.
Klain’s expected departure comes not long after the White House and Democrats had a better-than-expected showing in the November elections, buoyed by a series of major legislative accomplishments, including a bipartisan infrastructure bill and a sweeping climate, health care and tax package that all Republicans rejected.
The personnel change is also a rarity for an administration that has had minimal turnover so far.
No member of Biden’s Cabinet has stepped down, in stark contrast to Donald Trump’s White House, with frequent staff turmoil and other crises.
The person familiar with Klain’s plans was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity to confirm the development, which was first reported by the New York Times.
Klain, a longtime Democratic political operative, has overseen a West Wing that has been largely free of the high-stakes drama that permeated the upper echelons of the Trump administration.
Klain has been an outspoken proponent of Biden’s agenda via Twitter, where he frequently engages with reporters to defend the president’s record.