Six additional items, including documents with classified marks, were found at President Joe Biden’s Delaware home after Justice Department officials searched the residence Friday, the president’s personal attorney said Saturday.
The documents in the Wilmington, Delaware, home appear to be related to his time as vice president as well as his tenure in the US Senate and were found after Biden’s attorney offered full access to the facility while the department investigates his possession of classified material. Biden’s personal attorney Bob Bauer said in a statement.
“DOJ took possession of materials it deemed to be within the scope of its investigation, including six items consisting of documents with classification marks and surrounding materials, some of which were from the President’s service in the Senate and others from his tenure as vice president. Bauer said.
He added that the department had «full access» to Biden’s home, «including personally handwritten notes, files, papers, folders, memorabilia, to-do lists, schedules, and reminders going back decades.»
Joseph D. Fitzpatrick, assistant US attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, said FBI agents conducted a search of Biden’s personal property. “On Friday, the FBI executed a planned and consensual search of the President’s residence in Wilmington, Delaware,” he said.
The FBI operates under the Department of Justice and reports to the United States Attorney General, appointed by the President.
Investigators spent about 13 hours at the president’s personal residence Friday, White House officials and Biden’s attorney said.
More coverage of classified documents
The White House said earlier this month that Biden’s lawyers discovered a «small number» of classified records in a locked cabinet when they vacated office space at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement in Washington. , DC on November 2. NBC News has learned that one of the documents was marked as Top Secret/Compartmentalized Confidential information, the highest level of classification.
Biden aides discovered an additional batch of classified records that Richard Sauber, special counsel to the president, said were in Biden’s Wilmington garage and one of the adjacent rooms in the house.
«Your team voluntarily and immediately disclosed the initial discovery to the [National] Subsequent files and discoveries to the Department of Justice, as is proper protocol,» Sauber said in a statement Saturday.
The Justice Department assigned a special attorney to investigate how Biden possessed confidential material in unauthorized locations.
The discoveries came in the wake of news that federal investigators recovered more than 300 documents bearing classified trademarks of former President Donald Trump.
After Trump left office in 2021, the National Archives said it became aware that documents related to his presidency were missing. Trump sent him 15 boxes of documents containing 25 items labeled top secret.
The FBI said it believed more sensitive documents were in Trump’s personal care and issued a subpoena. In June, Trump’s lawyers turned over 38 classified documents, including 17 marked top secret, as well as other material. The FBI learned that Trump had not fully complied with the subpoena and obtained a search warrant in August for his Mar-a-Lago property, where they found more than 100 documents marked confidential, secret and top secret, the agency said. office.
Special counsel Jack Smith is leading the FBI’s criminal investigation into the handling of the Trump documents. In August, federal investigators were seeking evidence of three crimes related to the mishandling of confidential government records, according to a document attached to the August search warrant.
There is no indication that a criminal investigation into Biden’s handling of confidential documents has been launched.
Biden’s team has promised full cooperation with the Department of Justice.
«He doesn’t stand up to an investigation,» Ian Sams, a special assistant to the president, said on MSNBC Saturday night. «He’s not obstructing. He’s serious about this.»
Ken Dilanian contributed.