Biden's Willingness to Comply with Search for Classified Documents Reveals Different Attitude to Trump
A voluntary search of President Joe Biden's Wilmington, Delaware home, discovered more classified U.S. government documents Sunday.
"DOJ 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," Bob Bauer, the president's personal attorney, said in a statement to CNN.
"DOJ also took for further review personally handwritten notes from the vice-presidential years," Bauer added.
It is the third time that U.S. government documents have been found in Biden's care, following the White's House January 10 admission that a "small number" of classified documents were discovered in a locked closet in November 2022 at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement in Washington, D.C.
RELATED: Biden 'Surprised to Learn' Classified Obama-Era Documents Were Found in Former D.C. Office
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Patrick Semansky/AP/Shutterstock Biden home search
On January 12, NBC News reported that a second batch of Obama-era documents had also been found at Biden's Delaware home. The White House later confirmed that the documents were discovered in a "locked garage."
"They discovered a small number of documents with classified markings in storage areas and file cabinets in my home and my personal library," Biden told reporters.
The same day, Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the appointment of a special counsel to investigate Biden's storage of classified documents, led by Robert Hur, a former U.S. Attorney in Maryland who also served as a senior Justice Department official during the Trump administration.
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Speaking at a news conference in Mexico after the first announcement, the president said he did not know what was in any of the documents and that they had all been turned over to the National Archives.
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Susan Walsh/AP/Shutterstock President Joe Biden
"They immediately called the (National) Archives, turned them over to the Archives, and I was briefed about this discovery and surprised to learn that there were any government records that were taken there to that office," Biden said during a visit with Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
The first batch of documents are currently being reviewed by a U.S. attorney in Chicago at the direction of Attorney General Garland.
"We've cooperated fully with the review, which I hope will be finished soon," Biden added in Mexico. It is unclear exactly how many documents have been found in Biden's home or former office space.
RELATED VIDEO: Biden's Team Returns 'Small Number' of Classified, Obama-Era Documents Found in Former D.C. Office
The planned and voluntary search of Biden's home is also markedly different from the Aug. 8, 2022 search of former president Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago property in Florida, which was only searched by federal agents after they obtained a search and seizure warrant.
It was later revealed that the FBI obtained the warrant on the grounds that they were investigating Trump for "removal or destruction of records, obstruction of an investigation, and violating the Espionage Act," reported POLITICO. Conviction of those statutes, noted the outlet, "can result in imprisonment or fines."
