In recent weeks, the FBI searched the University of Delaware for classified documents as part of its investigation into President Joe Biden’s possible mishandling of sensitive government records.
The search, which was first reported by CNN, was confirmed to The Associated Press by a person familiar with the situation who was not authorized to speak publicly about it and spoke on the condition of anonymity. The individual refused to say whether anything was discovered.
A Justice Department special counsel is looking into how classified documents from Biden’s time as vice president and senator ended up in his home and former office, as well as whether any mishandling was intentional or unintentional. Biden’s personal lawyers revealed in January that a small batch of documents with classified markings had been discovered in his former Washington office weeks earlier, and they have since allowed FBI searches of multiple properties.
Biden attended the university. Biden donated his records from his 36 years in the United States Senate to the school in 2011. According to the university, the documents arrived on June 6, 2012, and photos of the numbered boxes being unloaded at the university alongside blue and gold balloons were released.
The records will be sealed for two years after Biden retires from public life, according to the terms of his gift.
The presidential records act would not apply to Biden’s Senate records, but prohibitions on mishandling classified information would remain in effect.
The White House referred questions to the Justice Department, which declined to comment. The Justice Department was also contacted by the University of Delaware.
The university is the fourth known entity to be searched by the FBI following inspections of his former office at the Penn Biden Center in Washington, where records with classified markings were initially found in a locked closet by Biden’s personal lawyers in November, and more recently of his Delaware homes in Wilmington and Rehoboth Beach.
Those searches were all done voluntarily and with the consent of Biden’s legal team.
According to Biden’s personal lawyer, the FBI took six items containing documents with classified markings during its January search of the Wilmington home. Agents did not discover any classified documents at the Rehoboth Beach property, but they did take some handwritten notes and other materials from Biden’s time as vice president for review.
Separately, the Justice Department is looking into former President Donald Trump’s retention of approximately 300 classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. After months of Trump and his representatives refused to return the documents to the government, the FBI executed a search warrant at the home last August.
The FBI also searched former Vice President Mike Pence’s Indiana home last week after his lawyers reported finding a small number of documents with classified markings. During the search, an additional document with classified markings was discovered, according to a Pence adviser.
