FBI search Joe Biden's Delaware beach house as part of classified document investigation
1 February 2023, 15:02 | Updated: 1 February 2023, 16:05
The FBI are searching US President Joe Biden's Delaware home as part of an investigation into classified documents.
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The planned search was part of the FBI's investigation into the potential mishandling of classified documents, the president's personal lawyer said.
The search follows a 13-hour, top-to-bottom review of his Wilmington, Delaware home on January 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 Mr Biden's time as vice president and a senator ended up in his home and office.
“Today, with the President’s full support and cooperation, the DOJ is conducting a planned search of his home in Rehoboth, Delaware,” Biden’s attorney Bob Bauer wrote in a statement.
"Under DOJ's standard procedures, in the interests of operational security and integrity, it sought to do this work without advance public notice, and we agreed to cooperate.
"The search today is a further step in a thorough and timely DOJ process we will continue to fully support and facilitate. We will have further information at the conclusion of today's search."
Read more: Second batch of classified documents found at Joe Biden's home in Delaware
It comes after the White House announced that a "small number" of classified documents were found last November in an office used by Joe Biden after he left the vice presidency in 2017.
US Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed a special counsel, Robert Hur, to investigate the presence of the documents.
He is starting his work this week, inheriting a months-long investigation already undertaken by FBI agents and Justice Department prosecutors.
The Bidens purchased the home, which overlooks a state park adjacent to the beach, in June 2017, months after he left the vice presidency.
Mr Biden previously said he was "surprised to learn" of the documents' existence, a matter which remains under review by the US Department of Justice.
An FBI spokeswoman referred comment to the Justice Department. A spokesman there did not immediately return a message seeking comment. It was not immediately clear whether any additional classified documents were found.
