Only three days after President Biden said he had “no regrets” about not publicly disclosing the discovery of classified documents in his former office space before the midterm elections, a new batch of documents was found in his Wilmington, Delaware, home this past Friday. This new discovery included reportedly even more documents with classification markings said a lawyer for the president on Saturday night. The classified documents and surrounding materials fell under his tenure in Senate, 1973 to 2009, and in the vice presidency during the Obama administration, 2009 to 2017, said lawyer Bob Bauer.
The search reportedly lasted over 12 hours, and among the items seized were handwritten notes from Biden. The president, said Bauer, offered access “to his home to allow the DOJ to conduct a search of the entire premises for potential vice-presidential records and potential classified material”. The Bidens were not present during the search. The DOJ also reportedly coordinated with Biden’s lawyers ahead of time. This came after previous classified documents, TS/SCI, were found at his Wilmington residence, and before that initially at a private office at a think tank in Washington D.C. The location of the new set of documents were not made clear by Bauer, previously the classified documents had been found in the “locked” garage and a nearby storage space. Federal investigators are reportedly moving swiftly with this probe. Early this month U.S Attorney General Merrick Garland named special counsel Robert Hur to investigate how the president and his team handled Obama-era classified documents.
Republicans have pointed out discrepancies in how the investigation was handled compared to how the probe into former President Donald Trump’s classified documents was handled. While the White House noted that Biden and his team have cooperated with the authorities during the recent probe and have turned over the documents. In contrast, during Trump’s case, he and his admin resisted the probe until it escalated into a FBI search on his property in Florida in August. Since the discovery Trump has complained that the DOJ were treating Biden better. “When is the FBI going to raid the many homes of Joe Biden, perhaps even the White House?” Trump posted online.
