The Biden White House continues to work to limit the political and legal fallout from classified documents dating from his time as vice president found at the Penn Biden Center as well as his personal residence.
Biden’s lawyers first alerted the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) on November 2, 2022, of classified documents found at the Penn Biden Center. NARA alerted the Department of Justice (DOJ), which began investigating the handling of the documents. CBS News reported on January 31 that the FBI searched the Penn Biden center in mid-November 2022, something the White House has not yet revealed.
On January 9, the White House revealed the released information about the document situation while trying to draw differences between Biden’s case and former President Donald Trump’s handling of classified documents after his presidency. Trump’s Florida residence Mar-a-Lago was raided by the FBI on August 8, 2022, and Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed a special counsel into Trump’s case on November 18.
Garland would do the same in Biden’s case on January 12.
More documents were reported found in Biden’s Wilmington, Delaware residence on January 11. The FBI later conducted a voluntary search of his residence, finding additional documents.
On January 24, NARA revealed that former Vice President Mike Pence also retained classified documents at his Indiana home, leading to speculation that such mishandling of documents may be widespread among high-ranking government officials.
