After searches, FBI finds no documents at Biden’s home

The FBI did not find confidential documents in searches carried out at the home of US President Joe Biden on Wednesday (Feb. 1, 2023). The action was held from 10:30 am to 2:00 pm (Brasília time) in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. The information is from the digital newspaper Axios.

“OH DOJ [Departamento de Justiça] took for further analysis some materials and handwritten notes that appear to relate to his time as Vice President.”said Bob Bauer, the president’s attorney.

The operation was carried out with the cooperation of the President and his legal team. It was not known if any documents were recovered from the house.

“Today, with the full support and cooperation of the President, the DOJ [Departamento de Justiça] is conducting a planned search of his home in Rehoboth.”said Bauer.

understand the case

On January 9, lawyers for the US president found 10 classified documents in an office located at the Penn Biden Center at the University of Pennsylvania in Washington DC.

The files were discovered just before the midterm elections on November 2, 2022, when lawyers were vacating the space and “packing files away from a locked cabinet”.

The president’s special adviser said the documents were in a folder along with other unclassified papers. He also stated that, on the same day (November 2), the White House notified the Nara (National Archives and Records Administration, its acronym in English) about the case. The department had access to the material the following day (3.Nov).

United States law prohibits government files from being concealed, destroyed, or kept at private addresses. Under the Presidential Records Act, “memoranda, letters, notes, e-mails, faxes and other written communications relating to the official duties of a president during the term of office” must be preserved.

It is the responsibility of the US National Archives to preserve these documents. The legislation also states that all documents – whether confidential or not – must be turned over to the department when a government ends its mandate.

After the 1st discovery was made public, on January 9, the White House disclosed a note confirming the episode. The statement signed by Richard Sauber does not detail the content of the documents or the quantity.

Biden’s special adviser further stated that the current president’s personal lawyers were “cooperating” with the National Archives and the US Department of Justice “in a process to ensure that all records of the Obama-Biden administration are properly in possession ” of the responsible department.

Biden also spoke out on the matter. On January 10, during his trip to Mexico, the president told journalists that he was “surprised” by the discovery and did not know what the documents were about. “We are cooperating fully with the analysis, which I hope will be completed soon. ”, he stated.

The US president also spoke on January 12. He told reporters at the White House that he was “cooperating” with the Justice Department’s investigation into how classified information and government records were stored.

According to CNN’s investigation, the 1st time found 10 documents dated from 2013 to 2016, when Biden was vice president of Barack Obama. Among the files were US intelligence memos and information materials about Ukraine, Iran and the UK.

Investigation

Attorney General Merrick Garland on January 12 assigned Robert Hur to investigate the case. He is a former US Attorney for the District of Maryland and will review “whether any person or entity violated the law” in the case.

Garland also appointed, on November 14, 2022, Illinois District Attorney John Lausch to review documents found at the Penn Biden Center. Lausch is also responsible for investigating the documents found at the home of former President Donald Trump in Mar-a-Lago, Florida.

The analysis sought to understand how the files ended up at the addresses associated with Biden. According to the statement, Lausch concluded that a further investigation into the case was needed.