According to Fox News, the Justice Department took additional classified documents from President Biden’s Wilmington, Delaware home following an FBI search on Friday.
Joseph D. Fitzpatrick, an assistant U.S. attorney to U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Illinois John Lausch, told Fox News Saturday, “On Jan. 20, 2023, the FBI executed a planned, consensual search of the President’s residence in Wilmington, Delaware.”
Prior to the appointment of Special Counsel Robert Hur, Lausch was the DOJ employee in charge of the investigation into Biden’s unlawful retention of secret records. According to Fox News, Lausch is still playing an important part in the investigation while Hur gets up to speed.
The FBI search began at 9:45 a.m. on Friday and ended at approximately 10:30 p.m. on Friday.
According to Bob Bauer, Biden’s personal attorney, the search included “all working, living and storage spaces in the home.”
“At the outset of this matter, the President directed his personal attorneys to fully cooperate with the Department of Justice,” Bauer said. “Accordingly, having previously identified and reported to DOJ a small number of documents with classification markings at the President’s Wilmington home, and in the interest of moving the process forward as expeditiously as possible, we offered to provide prompt access to his home to allow DOJ to conduct a search of the entire premises for potential vice-presidential records and potential classified material.”
VISIT OUR YOUTUBE CHANNELOn December 27, 2022, US President Joe Biden walks to speak to reporters as he and First Lady Jill Biden depart the White House and head to Marine One on the South Lawn in Washington, DC. The Bidens are celebrating the New Year at St. Croix, US Virgin Islands. (Anna Cashmaker)
According to Bauer, representatives from both Biden’s personal legal team and the White House Counsel’s Office were present for the search as part of an agreement with the Justice Department. The president and first lady were not present throughout the search.
“DOJ had full access to the President’s home, including personally handwritten notes, files, papers, binders, memorabilia, to-do lists, schedules, and reminders going back decades,” Bauer wrote.
“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,” Bauer said. “DOJ also took for further review personally handwritten notes from the vice-presidential years.”
Biden departed the United States Senate in 2008 to become former President Barack Obama’s vice president.
On Friday, April 19, 2019, an empty Secret Service guard shack was outside the access road leading to President Joe Biden’s private property in Wilmington, Delaware. The Justice Department has opened an investigation into the safekeeping of confidential papers at Biden’s residence after he left office in 2017.
Bauer went on to say that the president’s staff “attempted to balance the importance of public transparency where appropriate with the established norms and limitations necessary to protect the investigation’s integrity.”
“We will continue to do so throughout the course of our cooperation with DOJ,” Bauer added.
While Bauer’s statement mentions the Justice Department seizing “six items consisting of documents with classification markings,” the exact quantity of classified documents obtained during the search is unknown.
“The President’s lawyers and White House Counsel’s Office will continue to cooperate with DOJ and the Special Counsel to help ensure this process is conducted swiftly and efficiently,” White House counsel Richard Sauber said in a statement Saturday evening.
On November 18, 2022, US Attorney General Merrick Garland gives remarks at the US Justice Department Building in Washington, DC. Garland has announced the appointment of a special counsel to supervise the Justice Department’s investigation into former President Donald Trump’s handling of secret information and acts prior to the January 6th attack on the United States Capitol Building. Jack Smith, an international criminal court prosecutor, is Garland’s choice to lead the special counsel.
The investigation comes just a week after Attorney General Merrick Garland named U.S. Attorney Robert Hur as special counsel to look into the president’s possible unauthorized removal and improper retention of classified documents and records discovered at the Penn Biden Center in Washington, D.C., and his private residence in Wilmington, Delaware.
On November 2, 2022, classified records were discovered inside the Penn Biden Center think tank’s offices in Washington, D.C., but were only recently made public.
A second cache of classified documents was discovered inside the president’s garage in Wilmington. Additional secret materials were discovered in the president’s house over the weekend.
The White House has frequently refused to comment on the substance of the classified data, as well as their security levels, instead stating that the records “have been turned over to proper authorities and will be part of the ongoing investigation.”
