The FBI searched President Biden’s Rehoboth Beach, Del., beach house on Wednesday amid an ongoing investigation into the president’s handling of classified documents.
“Today, with the President’s full support and cooperation, the DOJ is conducting a planned search of his home in Rehoboth, Delaware,” Biden’s personal attorney Bob Bauer said 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,” Bauer added. “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.”
Biden purchased his beach house, where he and First Lady Jill Biden sometimes spend weekends, after the end of the Obama administration.
Wednesday’s search marks the third publicly known time the FBI has searched a property associated with Biden as part of the documents probe.
A set of classified records from Biden’s time as vice president were first recovered by Biden’s lawyers, according to a statement from the lawyers, on November 2 at the Penn Biden Center. The center served as Biden’s private office from 2017 to 2019, after his time as vice president came to an end. The FBI searched the office in mid-November after the initial discovery by Biden’s lawyers.
The White House Counsel’s office then searched Biden’s homes in Delaware last month and discovered two additional sets of documents with classified markings, including in a storage space in Biden’s Wilmington garage. The FBI then searched Biden’s Wilmington home on January 20 and recovered a fourth trove of documents.
The FBI search of the Penn Biden Center was first publicly reported this week, raising questions about the White House’s claims that it has been transparent about the ongoing documents probe.
When reporters previously pointed out the hypocrisy of the White House pretending to be transparent only after news of the documents had broken in the media two months after they were first recovered, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre claimed there is “an ongoing process” in the works.
“The Department of Justice is independent. We respect that process, but again I have taken questions. I can take two questions, 200 questions. I have answered your questions almost every day on this issue and again anything else you may have, anything that’s related to the review, I would refer you to the Department of Justice.”
Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed a special counsel in early January to oversee the investigation into Biden’s handling of classified documents. Special counsel Robert Hur officially began his role overseeing the investigation on Wednesday.