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FBI investigators found additional classified material Friday President Joe Biden’s Wilmington, Delaware home searchedThe President’s personal lawyer said in a statement.
During Friday’s nearly 12-hour search, “DOJ took possession of items deemed within the scope of its investigation, including six items containing classification markings and surrounding material, some of which date to the president’s service in the Senate and some from his time as vice president. The DOJ also reviewed privately handwritten notes from the vice president’s years.
Those six items are extra Materials previously discovered In Bidens Wilmington residence And in his private office.
The Federal search of Biden’s homeAlthough voluntary, it marks the intensity of special counsel Robert Harin’s investigation into the president’s handling of classified documents and will inevitably draw comparisons to his predecessor, former President Donald Trump — even if the FBI’s search of Trump’s home was conducted under different circumstances.
The FBI obtained a search warrant to search Trump’s Florida home, Mar-a-Lago, five months ago, an unprecedented move because federal investigators had evidence that Trump had not turned over all classified material in his possession after receiving a subpoena. On confidential documents to the National Archives. Trump’s handling of classified material at Mar-a-Lago is also the subject of a special counsel investigation led by Jack Smith.
The search shows that federal investigators are quickly moving forward with their investigation into classified documents in Biden’s possession. hur, Appointed a week ago, It is investigating how the president and his staff handled classified Obama-era documents recently discovered in Biden’s personal possession.
The FBI search was done with the approval of the president’s lawyers, PEOPLE explained. The FBI also seized documents previously found at the home, which the Biden team revealed last week.
The search did not require a search warrant or subpoena, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Bauer said representatives of Biden’s personal legal team and the White House counsel’s office had “full access” to the Biden home during the “exhaustive search.”
Bauer added that the DOJ “requested not to make the search public in advance, in accordance with its standard procedures, and we agreed to cooperate.”
The first documents were discovered in Biden’s private office on Nov. 2, but were not made public until CBS first reported their existence earlier this month.
After that, another search in December found a “small number” of records with classified markings in the garage of Biden’s Wilmington home, and a third discovery was made at the Wilmington home in January, as Biden’s legal team searched the rest of the property for documents. . In the room next to the garage, they found them.
Bauer said in a Jan. 11 statement that when Biden’s personal lawyers found the classified documents, they left the document where it was found and stopped looking for its whereabouts.
“We found that a few documents were filed in the wrong place,” Biden said He explained Thursday during a tour of the storm’s effects In California.
“I think you’re going to find there’s nothing there. I have no regrets,” Biden continued on Thursday.
During the search, Biden or First Lady Dr. Not Jill Biden, Special Counsel to the President Richard Saber said in a statement.
Biden, Sauber wrote, “is committed to handling this responsibly because he takes it seriously” and that he and his team are “working expeditiously to ensure that DOJ and the special counsel conduct a thorough review.”
Bauer said investigators had full access to Biden’s home during the search, which included “personal handwritten notes, files, papers, binders, memorabilia, to-do lists, schedules and reminders dating back decades.”
Biden is spending this weekend at his home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. Asked by The Associated Press on Friday whether documents found at Biden’s Wilmington home were related to the visit, White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre referred reporters to the White House counsel’s office and the Justice Department, but said Biden “travels frequently.” Weekends to Delaware”
This story has been updated with additional reporting.