Joe Biden’s Delaware beach house searched by FBI in document investigation
The FBI was searching President Joe Biden’s Delaware beach house on Wednesday, as part of an ongoing investigation into the handling of classified documents.
Biden’s attorney, Bob Bauer, confirmed the action, saying the Rehoboth Beach search was planned with “the president’s full support and cooperation.”
Citing the Justice Department’s desire for “operational security and integrity,” Bauer said there was no public notice of the action, which was consensual and did not require a warrant.
“Today’s research is one more step in a thorough and timely DOJ process that we will continue to fully support and facilitate,” Bauer said.
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The beach house marks the third known location the FBI has searched in connection with the discovery of unsecured classified documents related to Biden.
In November, agents searched a former office in Washington, DC, used by Biden after he left the vice presidency, following the discovery of an initial batch of documents by the president’s lawyers.
Last month, the FBI conducted a day-long search of Biden’s residence in Wilmington, Delaware, recovering a small number of classified items, after attorneys found a second batch of files at the home.
The Rehoboth Beach action comes a day after a person familiar with the investigation confirmed that federal authorities searched Biden’s former office in Washington.
It was not immediately clear if any additional documents had been recovered during this search.
The FBI also searched Biden’s office in November:The FBI searched Biden’s former office in DC after the discovery of the first classified document
Attorney General Merrick Garland has appointed a special counsel to review Biden’s handling of classified documents. Additionally, the Republican-led House Oversight and Accountability Committee has launched its own investigation.
Garland appointed a separate special counsel in November to investigate former President Donald Trump’s withholding of documents after leaving the White House.
Although both cases involve the handling of sensitive government documents, the Trump investigation is also examining Trump’s alleged attempts to obstruct the government’s repeated efforts to recover records from his estate in Florida.
When those recovery efforts proved unsuccessful, the FBI obtained a search warrant and searched Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort on August 8, when agents seized more than 100 additional classified documents from among thousands government documents.
Since the revelations involving Trump and Biden, unsecured classified documents have also been found at former Vice President Mike Pence’s home in Indiana.
A representative for Pence alerted the National Archives earlier this month to a handful of documents, which the FBI has recovered.
Pence’s attorney described the documents as “a small number of documents bearing classified marks that were inadvertently transported to the former vice president’s personal residence at the end of the last administration.” He said they were found on January 16 and placed in a secure vault until they could be returned to the proper authorities.
National Archives:After Pence, Biden and Trump revelations, Archives asks ex-presidents to verify classified documents
USA Today
