Six additional classified papers found at Biden's Delaware residence
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While further searching Biden's Delaware home, FBI agents find six more classified artifacts, according to an attorney.
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President Joe Biden responds to questions from reporters on Thursday, Jan. 12, 2023, in Washington. (AP)
In light of the latest scandal involving the discovery of highly classified Obama-era documents that could lead to open a criminal investigation, the FBI searched President Joe Biden's house in Wilmington, Delaware, on Friday and found additional documents with classified markings, as well as some of his handwritten notes, according to the President's counsel.
The President freely permitted the FBI into his residence, but the lack of a search warrant did not diminish the search's unusual nature.
Though Biden has maintained that "there's no there there," the revelations have become a political liability as he prepares to run for reelection, undermining his efforts to create an image of propriety to the American public following the chaotic presidency of his predecessor, Donald Trump.
The FBI took six items containing documents with classified markings during Friday's nearly 13-hour search, according to Bob Bauer, the President's personal lawyer. The materials dated from Biden's tenure in the Senate to his time as Vice President, he claimed, and the notes were from his time as Vice President. As the Justice Department evaluates the data, the level of classification and whether the documents taken by the FBI remained classified were not immediately known.
The President and first lady Jill Biden were not present when the residence was searched. They were staying at their home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, for the weekend.
Biden said he was “fully cooperating and looking forward to getting this resolved quickly.”
“We found a handful of documents were filed in the wrong place,” Biden said. “We immediately turned them over to the Archives and the Justice Department.”
The inquiry into Biden has also hampered the Justice Department's investigation into Trump's retention of classified papers and official records after leaving office.
Former Maryland US Attorney Robert Hur has been appointed as a special counsel to investigate any potential wrongdoing in connection with the Biden documents by Attorney General Merrick Garland. Hur will take over the investigation from Trump-appointed Illinois US Attorney John Lausch.
A flashback
The first batch of 10 papers was discovered on January 9 at the President's Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy in three or four boxes and was dated between 2013 and 2016, and contained documents related to Ukraine, Iran, and the UK.
The second batch was found in the garage of his Wilmington Residence, with an additional one-page document found in one of the residence's rooms.
The third batch was found in Biden's residence in Wilmington, Delaware.
This brings the total number of known documents roughly to 31, as of today.
Read next: Biden: "No regrets" on mishandling classified documents
