US sources said that prosecutors at the Justice Department are considering a search of President Biden’s second home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, after several batches of classified documents were found at his home in Wilmington, Delaware, in recent weeks, according to Fox News.
The news comes days after FBI officials searched Biden’s home in Wilmington at the invitation of the White House. There, officials uncovered a fourth set of misplaced classified documents, prompting Justice Department officials to look into searches of other sites linked to Biden, according to CBS News.
However, the Justice Department has not yet pursued a search warrant for any of Biden’s property. The search on Friday in Wilmington was consensual and prosecutors planned to seek access to other Biden properties.
Friday’s trove of documents was the fourth to be found since November, and the third to be found inside Biden’s home in Wilmington. One is from his time in the Senate, and the other three are from his time as Vice President.
The FBI and other Justice Department employees arrived at Biden’s home in Wilmington at 9:45 a.m. Friday and searched the home for about 12 hours, leaving at 10:30 p.m.
US Attorney General John Lash coordinated the effort and retains a prominent role in the investigation, while Special Counsel Robert Hoare accelerates the process.
Six items consisting of documents marked secret were recovered and taken away by the officials.
The search came after White House press secretary Karen Jean-Pierre reassured reporters in mid-January that the search for new documents was over. However, new documents were found at the Wilmington residence on January 14 and again on January 20.
Biden’s lawyers disclosed the first batch of classified documents inside the offices of the Ben Biden Center in November, and said they promptly turned the documents over to the National Archives.
The mishandled trove of documents prompted Attorney General Merrick Garland to hire a special counsel to investigate the matter.
Meanwhile, Republicans on Capitol Hill are stepping up scrutiny of the investigation as House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer has suggested there may have been a “cover-up.”