On January 9, 2023, CBS NewsFarley, Robert (January 19, 2023). Timeline of Biden’s Classified Documents. FactCheck.org. reported that attorneys for U.S. president Joe Biden discovered classified government documents in his former office at the Penn Biden Center in Washington, D.C., and in his personal residence in Wilmington, Delaware, dating to his time in the United States Senate and his vice presidency in the Obama administration. The number of documents was later revealed to be between 25 and 30. By June 2023, classified documents from Biden's Senate tenure were discovered in materials donated to the University of Delaware.
On November2, 2022, Biden's attorneys discovered the first set of classified documents in a locked closet at the Penn Biden Center; they reported them that day to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), which retrieved them the next day. The classified documents included intelligence material and briefing memos on Ukraine, Iran and the United Kingdom. In coordination with the Justice Department (DOJ), Biden's attorneys discovered a second set of documents at Biden's home on December20, followed by several more on January9 and January12, 2023. Biden's personal attorney said on January 21 that the Justice Department discovered six items containing classification markings during a consensual search of his home the previous day, some of which dated to his tenure in the Senate; investigators also seized some of Biden's handwritten notes from his vice presidency. On November14, 2022, Attorney General Merrick Garland assigned U.S. Attorney John R. Lausch Jr. to conduct an initial investigation. On January12, 2023, Garland appointed Robert K. Hur as special counsel to investigate "possible unauthorized removal and retention of classified documents or other records". The next day, the House Judiciary Committee opened a separate investigation into the documents.
On February8, 2024, the Justice Department released the report by special counsel Hur, which concluded that the "evidence does not establish Mr. Biden's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt", so "no criminal charges are warranted in this matter". For classified documents found in the Penn Biden Center and in the University of Delaware, Hur judged that they "could plausibly have been brought to these locations by mistake". For Afghanistan-related classified documents found in the garage of Biden's Delaware home, Hur stated that his investigation could not determine "why, how, or by whom" that material was kept. For Biden's handwritten notebooks found in Biden's Delaware home, which included classified content, Hur credited the possibility that Biden treated them as "personal property", given "historical practice" of the federal government allowing President Ronald Reagan to take home his diaries as "personal records" despite their classified content. While Hur found that Biden read out classified information from his notebooks to his ghostwriter, Hur judged that it was not proven that Biden knew that the information was classified. Hur also surmised that in a trial, "Biden would likely present himself to a jury... as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory" with "diminished faculties in advancing age".
The report's comments on Biden's memory have sparked substantial political controversy, with The New York Times, The Washington Post, and New York magazine describing them as overshadowing the report's conclusion against charging Biden. During a press conference later that day, Biden criticized Hur's report for negatively assessing his mental state, describing it as "extraneous commentary", and stated "my memory's fine". Biden criticized Hur for questioning him about the timing of his son Beau's death, suggesting it was unnecessary. However, the transcript of Biden's interview showed that it was Biden himself that brought up Beau Biden's death in his testimony, failing to correctly remember the year. Additionally, Biden failed to remember when he was vice president. The DOJ defended the report against criticism over inclusion of comments on Biden's memory, stating that the report and its public release fell well within DOJ guidelines.
In May 2024, Biden would invoke executive privilege to keep a recording of the Hur interview classified. On June 12, 2024, Garland, who enforced Biden's executive privilege decision to keep the audio of President Biden's interview with Hur classified and would not turn it over to Congress, would be found in contempt of Congress; despite the fact that the audio recording of the Hur interview was not turned over to Congress, the transcript of the Hur interview had already been turned over.
Background CNN reported that the process to return Biden's documents to NARA began many weeks before his vice presidency ended, but was made more difficult by the fact that Biden continued to use his vice presidential offices and continued to receive more classified documents. CNN, quoting "former aides and others with direct knowledge of the process", reported that most of the actual packing of Biden's belongings and documents was done by lower-level staffers, though the staff had "clear Presidential Records Act guidelines" and took those guidelines seriously. The documents "not deemed covered by the records requirements to submit to the National Archives" were stored at a temporary facility run by the General Services Administration near the White House before eventually being moved to the Penn Biden Center.
Discoveries and other developments
First batch of documents On November 2, 2022, Joe Biden's personal attorneys found classified documents dating to his vice presidency, some of which were top secret sensitive compartmented information, in a locked closet while packing files at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement, a think tank where Biden worked after leaving the government in 2017. The White House notified NARA on the same day of the discovery; NARA retrieved the documents the next day and notified its inspector general, who referred the matter to the DOJ on November 4. The FBI and DOJ initiated an assessment of whether classified materials had been mishandled on November 9, notifying Biden's personal attorneys the next day.
DOJ letter to Bob Bauer The Washington Post reported in January 2023 that a senior DOJ national security division official wrote to Biden's personal attorney Bob Bauer in mid-November, asking the Biden legal team to secure the documents found at Penn Biden Center and refrain from further reviewing them, or other documents that might be in other locations. The letter also requested formal permission to examine the Penn Biden materials, and asked for a list of other locations where documents might be stored. The letter implied that the DOJ would take the lead in the inquiry; this allowed Biden's team to approach the situation with caution and deference to the DOJ, only acting in coordination with federal investigators in the hope that the matter would be quickly resolved. The resulting lack of transparency in public communications led to perceptions by some in the media that the Biden team was obfuscating details.
Second batch of documents On December 20, a second batch of classified documents was discovered by Biden's attorneys in the garage of his home in Wilmington, Delaware. On January 11, 2023, a one-page classified document was also found in a room adjacent to the garage, described as Biden's private library. This discovery was made and reported by Biden's personal attorneys, who immediately stopped searching that room because they did not have security clearances. On January 12, five more one-page classified documents were recovered from the library by the White House attorney and DOJ representatives who had gone there to collect them. None of these documents were classified as top secret. CBS News reported on January 13 that a total of about 20 documents were found at the Penn Biden Center and Biden's home in Wilmington.
The finding of the second batch of classified documents at Biden's residence was not initially disclosed to the public when the White House made its initial disclosure on January 9. White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre defended the communication, saying the search of the second batch "was still ongoing" at that time of the initial statements and "after the search concluded ... we released a statement disclosing the facts from that search". She later stated that the DOJ inquiry prevented the administration from disclosing the matter to the public.
FBI search of Biden's Wilmington home On January 20 the FBI conducted a 13-hour search of the entire premises of Biden's Wilmington home. The next day his personal attorney Bob Bauer revealed the search, saying that the agents had examined "personally handwritten notes, files, papers, binders, memorabilia, to-do lists, schedules, and reminders going back decades". They identified and removed six documents containing classified markings from Biden's home office, some from his time in the Senate and some from his vice presidency. They also took possession of some of his notes. Biden and his wife were at their home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, at the time. CNN reported the search was conducted with the consent of Biden's attorneys, so a subpoena or search warrant was not required.
Other searches On February 1 the FBI searched Biden's home in Rehoboth Beach. According to Biden's attorney, the FBI found no classified documents, but took papers and notes from his time as vice president.
On February 16, it was reported that the FBI had carried out a search at the University of Delaware, which kept over 1,800 boxes of documents donated by Biden. The search did not initially turn up any classified information, but the material is still being reviewed, reported The Washington Post citing an unnamed source. By June 2023, FBI "agents found documents with potential classification markings, dating from 1977 to 1991, during Mr. Biden's service in the Senate" from the material stored in the University of Delaware, stated special counsel Robert Hur's report in February 2024.
Initial responses
Biden and his legal team Biden stated that he was "surprised" when he learned of the documents found at Penn Biden Center. The White House also stated that Biden does not know what is in the documents. He added that he would cooperate fully with the investigation. Biden's legal team has denied any wrongdoing, stating that the documents were "inadvertently misplaced".
In response to the discovery of a second set of classified documents at Biden's Wilmington home, Biden acknowledged his possession of the documents, stating "I'm going to get the chance to speak on all of this, God willing it'll be soon, but I said earlier this weekand by the way my Corvette is in a locked garage. It's not like it's sitting out in the street."
Biden and his advisors did not disclose the discovery of the documents to the public for 68 days. According to The New York Times, Biden's team hoped that they could convince the Justice Department it was a good-faith mistake and resolve the matter before it could impact the image of Biden or his presidency. According to The Times, this strategy has appeared to have "backfired" and left Biden open to criticism.
Elected officials
Republican elected officials House Republicans compared the incident to former president Donald Trump's retention of documents. Then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) stated that Congress should investigate the Biden matter and launch its own probe.