The Department of Justice raids US President Biden’s beach house because of classified documents

His lawyer said on Wednesday that the Department of Justice raided US President Joe Biden’s beach home in Delaware over classified documents.

“We agreed to cooperate,” Bob Bauer, Biden’s personal attorney, said in a statement, adding that more information would be released after the search was concluded.

The Justice Department previously searched the Democratic president’s home in Wilmington, Delaware, and the office space he used.

Secret documents were also found in the homes of former Republican President Donald Trump and his former vice president, Mike Pence.

Biden has pledged to cooperate with the searches and Pence has said he takes responsibility for the documents found. Trump has resisted efforts to return the materials in his possession, prompting a search of his Florida home and resort by the FBI last year.

US Attorney General Merrick Garland has appointed separate special counsels to review Trump and Biden’s handling of such documents, as both anticipate the 2024 presidential election.

Meanwhile, the National Archives has reportedly required all former US presidents and vice presidents to search their personal records for classified documents or other presidential materials that should have been turned over when they left office.

It is illegal to knowingly or intentionally remove or keep classified material, although no current or former president or vice president has been charged with wrongdoing.

Former President Donald Trump, who is also under investigation for his handling of classified documents and whose Florida home was searched by FBI agents in August, wrote on social media shortly after the findings: “When is the FBI going to raid so many… The homes of Joe? Biden, and possibly the White House? These documents have certainly not been declassified.”

Unlike Biden, who voluntarily cooperated with the Justice Department after about a dozen documents came to light, Trump has repeatedly blocked requests from the National Archives to return more than 150 documents he was not authorized to possess.

After months of fruitless government attempts to recover the documents, Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence was finally searched by warrant. Searches of Biden’s addresses have come about voluntarily, without a warrant.