WASHINGTON — The FBI is searching President Joe Biden’s vacation home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, and the president’s personal attorney said Wednesday morning that investigators are continuing to probe classified documents in his possession.
The search was the same as at least two other searches at locations linked to Mr. Biden, with the cooperation of the president and his legal team. It is unclear if any documents were found at the beach house.
“Today, with the full support and cooperation of the President, the Department of Justice is planning a search of his home in Rehoboth, Delaware,” said Mr. Bob Bauer. Biden’s personal attorney said in a statement. “In accordance with the standard procedure of the U.S. Department of Justice, which seeks to conduct this work without prior notice for the sake of operational security and integrity, we have agreed to cooperate.”
gentlemen. Ball added that he would provide “more information at the conclusion of today’s search.”
A Justice Department spokesman declined to comment.
On Tuesday, news outlets including The Times reported that the FBI conducted a similar investigation in mid-November at the Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement in Pennsylvania, a Washington think tank, after aides to the president discovered a small trove of classified documents. search. documents for that month.
Understanding the Biden Files Case
The discovery of classified documents from President Biden’s tenure as vice president prompted a Justice Department investigation.
The FBI’s action on Wednesday was the latest in a series of revelations by Trump. Biden was sharply critical of former President Donald J. Trump for mishandling classified government documents at his Florida residence, but he kept material that was supposed to be returned to the National Archives when he left office in January 2017.
The president’s advisers at the White House and his personal attorney did not disclose the Nov. 8 discovery to the public. Two of the first batch of classified documents were stored in an office in Washington for 68 days. They also waited days before publicly disclosing that more documents had been found at the president’s Wilmington, Delaware, home.
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The delays drew criticism from Republicans who accused the president of failing to be transparent about the documents. Days after the findings were made public, Attorney General Merrick B. Garland appointed a special counsel to investigate the president’s handling of the material.
gentlemen. Biden’s lawyers said they had cooperated fully with the National Archives and the Justice Department since presidential aides first discovered the documents last year when they cleaned out the Biden Center in Pennsylvania, an office Biden used when he left the vice presidency.
This cooperation is in stark contrast to Mr. Trump and his attorneys have repeatedly refused to cooperate with the Justice Department after the National Archives said the documents were missing. The FBI subpoenaed the material and obtained a warrant to search the former president’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida.
In recent weeks, former Vice President Mike Pence also revealed that classified documents were found at his home in Indiana and returned to the National Archives. It was not immediately clear whether the Justice Department was also investigating Mr. penny.
In Mr. Biden’s case, neither the Justice Department nor the president’s legal counsel released details of the classified documents that were discovered.
The president and his lawyers have said they believe the mishandling of documents will ultimately be an inadvertent error that occurred during the presidency. Biden’s office was overcrowded at the end of his eight-year vice presidency.
“I think you’ll find there’s nothing there,” said Mr. Biden told reporters last week. “I have no regrets. I’m following what the lawyers told me they wanted me to do. That’s exactly what we’re doing.”
Maggie Haberman and Adam Goldman Contribution report.