WASHINGTON, Jan 21 (Reuters) – A new search of President Joe Biden’s home in Wilmington, Delaware on Friday by the U.S. Justice Department found six additional items, including classified documents, the president’s lawyer said in a statement on Saturday night.
Among the public records are “circular documents” from Biden’s tenure in the US Congress, where he represented Delaware from 1973 to 2009, according to his attorney, Bob Bauer. Some of the documents were from his tenure as vice president in the Obama administration, from 2009 to 2017, Bauer said.
The Justice Department, which conducted an investigation that lasted more than 12 hours, also recorded Biden’s personal writings as vice president, according to the lawyer.
The president granted access to his “home to allow the DOJ to conduct a thorough search of the vice president’s background and material that could be changed,” Bauer said.
Neither Mr. Biden nor his wife were involved in the investigation, the lawyer said. Biden is in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, over the weekend.
Justice Department investigators coordinated the investigation with Biden’s lawyers shortly after, Bauer said, and the president’s and White House lawyers were present at the time.
Other government documents were found this month at Mr. Biden’s home in Wilmington, and in November at the private office he worked in Washington, DC, after completing his role as vice president in the Obama administration in 2017.
On Saturday, Bauer did not specify in his statement where the documents were found at the Wilmington home. Previous records were found in the home’s garage and nearby storage.
[1/2] US President Joe Biden speaks as he hosts mayors from the US Conference of Mayors’ Winter Meeting and other officials in the East Room of the White House in Washington, US, January 20, 2023. REUTERS/Leah Millis/File Photo
The search shows that federal investigators are moving quickly with the investigation into the documents found in Biden’s possession. This month, US Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed a special counsel to investigate the matter.
Special counsel Robert Hur, who was appointed at the time, is investigating the president and his team’s access to Obama-era documents that were recently found in Biden’s possession.
Biden’s attorneys obtained all of the documents obtained Friday before the DOJ investigation, according to the White House. The latest search was the first time federal authorities have searched government documents for Biden’s private addresses, according to publicly released documents.
Republicans have compared the investigation to the ongoing investigation into former President Donald Trump’s access to classified documents after his presidency. The White House has noted that Mr. Biden’s team cooperated with the authorities in their investigation and provided the documents. Trump denied doing so until an FBI investigation in August at his Florida resort.
The search is increasing the legal and political importance of the president, who has insisted that previous finds at his home and former office could be seen as futile.
Mr. Biden said Thursday that he had “no regrets” about not publicly disclosing the midterm election investigation found in his former office and that he hoped the matter would be resolved.
“It’s not there,” Biden told reporters during a trip to California on Thursday.
Since the discovery of Biden’s documents, Trump has complained that Justice Department investigators are treating his successor differently.
“When will the FBI raid most of Joe Biden’s homes, maybe even the White House?” Trump said in a social media post earlier this month.
Reporting by Nandita Bose, Matt Spetalnik, Steve Holland and Joel Schectman Editing by Nick Zieminski and David Gregorio
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