The FBI’s search of President Joe Biden’s Delaware vacation home marked the third known law enforcement search of locations linked to the president in the ongoing investigation into the handling of classified documents.
Here is a timeline of key dates in the Biden documents investigation:
November 2022: Classified documents turn up at Biden's former DC office
- Nov. 2: The president’s lawyers discover a small number of classified documents, about 10, at a D.C. office formerly used by Biden after he left the vice presidency.
- Nov. 4: The National Archives inspector-general contacts a prosecutor at the Justice Department to say documents bearing classification markings were found at the Biden office.
- Nov. 9: The FBI begins an assessment to understand whether the information was mishandled.
- Nov. 14: Attorney General Merrick Garland assigns Chicago U.S. Attorney John Lausch Jr. to conduct an initial investigation.
- Mid-November: FBI conducts a search of the former Biden office. It's not immediately clear whether additional records were recovered. The search was consensual and did not require a warrant.
December 2022: More documents found in Biden's Delaware garage
- Dec. 20: Biden’s personal counsel informs Lausch that more documents were identified in Biden’s garage.
January 2023: Biden documents become public, special counsel appointed
- Jan. 5: Lausch briefs Garland and advises that a special counsel is warranted.
- Jan. 9: The White House reveals a "small number" of classified documents were found Nov. 2 in a locked closet at Biden's former office.
- Jan. 10: Biden says at a news conference in Mexico he was "surprised" the documents were found and that he didn't know what was in them.
- Jan. 12: The White House reveals a second set of classified documents was found in a garage at Biden's home in Wilmington, Delaware. Garland appoints former Justice official Robert Hur as special counsel to further investigate the handling of classified documents.
- ·Jan. 20: FBI conducts a day-long search of Biden’s Wilmington residence, resulting in the recovery of six additional items with classification markings. The search was consensual and did not require a warrant.
February 2023: Biden's Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, beach house searched
- Feb. 1: FBI searches Biden’s Rehoboth Beach, Delaware home. Biden’s lawyers, who consented to the search, report that no classified records were recovered. Investigators take “some materials and handwritten notes that appear to relate” to Biden’s time as vice president.
Biden classified documents: Dig deeper
- Breaking down the three special counsels:Biden documents probe means US has 3 special counsel investigations at once. What are they?
- Biden, Trump documents expose wider problem:Biden and Trump documents expose wider problem: Missing classified records not uncommon
- What other presidents, VPs are holding classified documents?:After Trump, Biden, Pence, are other former presidents holding classified documents? We asked.
- How Americans feel:Poll: Americans equally concerned with Biden, Trump classified documents despite differences
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