Federal law enforcement officials reportedly searched President Joe Biden’s private office at the Penn Biden Center months ago after Biden’s legal team reported finding classified material there.
CBS News reported that the search was conducted with the cooperation of Biden’s team and that a search warrant was not needed.
The White House, Biden’s lawyers, and Biden’s Justice Department have not previously disclosed the fact that the FBI was at the building searching the office.
Classified documents connected with Biden were first found in his private office at the Penn Biden Center, a think tank in Washington, D.C., on November 2, less than a week before the 2022 midterm elections. Since then, Biden’s attorneys have located more classified documents at Biden’s home in Wilmington, Delaware, on several separate occasions: an unspecified number found in the garage on December 20, one document found in Biden’s study on January 11, and five more found in the study on January 12.
Federal officials confirmed two weeks ago that they found more classified material during a 13-hour FBI search of Biden’s home on January 20.
CNN reported last week that while Biden’s team claimed they were cooperative in dealing with the Department of Justice, federal investigators were prepared to get a search warrant if Biden did not consent to being searched.
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed former U.S. Attorney Robert Hur — who served during the Trump administration — to serve as special counsel in the investigation after the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois John Lausch, who was assigned to do an initial review of the case, recommended to Garland that a special counsel be appointed.
CNN described the special counsel investigation by Hur as a “full-blown criminal investigation.”
Biden made his first remarks about the investigation two weeks ago, telling reporters that it “quite frankly bugs” him that he was being asked questions about the matter.
“We’re fully cooperating, looking forward to getting this resolved quickly,” Biden claimed. “I think you’re gonna find there’s nothing there. I have no regrets. I’m following what the lawyers have told me they want me to do — that’s exactly what we’re doing. There’s no there, there.”
This report has been updated to include additional information.