The FBI was conducting a planned search Wednesday of President Joe Biden’s home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, as part of its investigation into possible mishandling of classified documents, the president’s personal attorney said.
The search follows a 13-hour top-to-bottom search of his home in Wilmington, Delaware, on Jan. 20, when agents located additional documents with classified markings and also took possession of some of his handwritten notes.
The president has been voluntarily allowing the Justice Department into his residences as investigators seek to determine how classified documents from Biden’s time as vice president and senator ended up in his home and office. The investigation followed the discovery on November 2 of documents with classified marks by Biden’s lawyers when they closed an office at the Penn Biden Center, a think tank affiliated with the Ivy League school.
Documents were also found at his Wilmington home by his personal lawyers, who launched a search after the Penn Biden Center documents were discovered. The FBI also searched the Penn Biden Center in November after the initial discovery of documents there, a person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press on Tuesday.
“In accordance with standard Department of Justice procedures, in the interest of operational security and integrity, you sought to do this work without prior public notice, and we have agreed to cooperate,” Biden’s attorney Bob Bauer said in a statement. “Today’s search is another step in a thorough and timely Department of Justice process that we will continue to fully support and facilitate. We will have more information after today’s search concludes.”
An FBI spokeswoman forwarded the comment to the Justice Department. A spokesman there did not immediately return a message seeking comment. It was not immediately clear if additional classified documents were found.
The investigation of the Biden documents is being led by a special counsel, Robert Hur, a former top federal prosecutor in Baltimore. He is starting his job this week, inheriting a months-long investigation already conducted by FBI agents and Justice Department prosecutors.
The Bidens bought the house, which overlooks a beach-adjacent state park, in June 2017, months after he left the vice presidency.
