U.S.
Source: FBI searched University of Delaware for Biden documents
By
The Washington Post February 16, 2023
Tyler Pager, Matt Viser and Perry Stein
The Washington Post February 16, 2023
President Joe Biden leaves Holy Trinity Catholic Church before attending the Phoenix Awards Dinner in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 1, 2022. (Samuel Corum/Bloomberg)
The FBI has recently searched the University of Delaware, which houses thousands of President Joe Biden's records, as part of its investigation into Biden's handling of classified documents, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Agents did not initially find classified information, but the material is still being reviewed, the person said, requesting anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation.
The University of Delaware is the fourth location the FBI has searched as part of the Justice Department investigation, which began after one of Biden's personal lawyers discovered classified documents last November at the Penn Biden Center, an office Biden used in Washington after leaving the vice presidency.
The searches at the university were first reported by CNN.
Additional classified documents have been found at Biden's Wilmington residence, but agents did not find any classified materials after searching Biden's Rehoboth Beach, Del., home.
Last month, Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Robert Hur as a special counsel to oversee the investigation, and Hur began his job earlier this month.
The White House and Molly Levinson, a spokeswoman for Biden's personal attorney, both declined to comment and referred questions to the Department of Justice.
The University of Delaware also declined to comment. "Questions about this matter should be answered by the Department of Justice," Peter Bothum, a university spokesman.
A spokesman for the special counsel also declined to comment.
Spokespeople for the University of Delaware refused to respond to numerous messages from The Washington Post sent since Jan. 21, when Biden's attorneys announced that the FBI had recovered papers from his Senate years at his home in Wilmington. Bothum has declined to say whether the FBI had requested to search the papers at the university, or whether the university ever found classified papers as it catalogued its collection.
The collection of documents that Biden donated to his alma mater fills 1,875 boxes in addition to 415 gigabytes of electronic records. It includes committee reports, drafts of legislation and correspondence.
After the initial classified documents turned up, Biden and his legal team said they would allow the FBI to search all his properties and storage locations. Agents spent nearly 13 hours searching the president's Wilmington residence last month, and earlier this month, they spent 3 1/2 hours searching the president's beach home in Rehoboth.
At the Wilmington house, agents found additional classified documents, some of which dated to Biden's time in the U.S. Senate and others to his eight-year tenure as vice president, Bob Bauer, Biden's personal attorney, said in a statement after that search.
Biden's lawyers have sought to downplay the probe, suggesting that a small number of documents were retained inadvertently, and the president has said he has "no regrets" about how the White House has handled the disclosure of the discovery of classified documents.
"One of the things that happened is that what was not done well is as they packed up my offices to move them, they didn't do the kind of job that should have been done to go thoroughly through every single piece of literature that's there," Biden said in a recent interview with PBS.
He added, "But I'll just let the investigation, you know, decide what's going on and we'll see what happens."
Classified documents have also turned up at the Mar-a-Lago home of former president Donald Trump, though unlike Biden, Trump has been defiant and challenged Justice Department efforts to regain the documents.
The Trump and Biden discoveries have prompted other former officials to search their homes, and late last month, a lawyer for former vice president Mike Pence said a small number of documents had been found at Pence's Indiana home.