More classified documents were on Saturday, 21 January 2023, found at U.S. President Joe Biden's home in Wilmington, bringing the total discovered to some 25 to 30 files, according to a report by DailyMail.
Biden's attorney disclosed that the latest batch of documents has classified markings.
The find came just four days after Biden insisted he had "no regrets" in his handling of classified files.
Questions continue to mount over why Biden kept the documents and why it took the White House months to disclose their existence.
During a September interview with 60 Minutes, Biden described airresponirresponsibleedecessor, Donald Trump's trump classified documents, hundreds of which were recovered when the FBI raided Trump's Florida Mar-Lago residence.
With the discoveries in Biden's private residences and former office, critics have lashed out at the president for openly mocking Donald Trump over his classified documents.
Biden had focused on downplaying his rising scandal recently, insisting that he and his team were being transparent and cooperating with investigators. Sometimes he had brushed off reporters' questions on the matter or outright ignored them.
This came in the wake of an ABC News/Ipsos poll which showed that 64 percent of Americans view "inappropriate," Biden's handling of classified documents.
Below is a comprehensive timeline
of what happened, when and the White House responses as compiled by the DailyMail.
November 2: Classified documents found.
President Biden's lawyers found 10 classified documents, in a Washington, DC think tank where Biden formerly held a private office.
Those documents were found among his private possessions in a locked closet at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement and dated to Biden's time as Vice President.
The next day, the National Archives, which was informed about the discovery, took possession of the documents.
On November 4, the Archives alerted the Justice Department that some of the documents had classified markings.
November 9: FBI began to investigate whether there was any violation of federal law.
The Justice Department quietly opened an investigation, a day after the November 8 midterm elections, "to understand whether classified information had been mishandled in violation of federal law."
Two months later on January 12, Attorney General Merrick Garland, revealed that the probe saying it was opened by the FBI in line with "standard protocols."
November 14: Garland picks Trump, appointee, to examine files.
The following Monday, Garland appointed John Lausch, a former Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, to find out how the documents ended up at the Penn Biden Center.
Lausch was appointed by Trump in 2017
and has received bipartisan praise.
December 20: Biden’s lawyer tells US attorney about documents in Biden’s garage.
In late December, Biden's lawyer alerted Lausch to more classified documents found in Biden's private Delaware residence.
According to a statement from the White House Counsel's Office, the files were discovered in a room adjacent to his garage.
At this point in the timeline, the existence of the documents had still not been made public.
January 9: White House tells the public about Penn Biden Center records.
After CBS News first broke the story,
The White House Counsel's Office finally, on January 9, informed the public of the classified files found at the Penn Biden Center.
Critics immediately began to ask questions about whether there were 'political' motives behind keeping the documents a secret less than a week before the midterm elections.
January 10: Biden says he was ‘surprised’ about Penn Biden Center documents.
The next day, President Biden made his first public comments on the matter. He had previously ignored reporters' shouted questions while he was in Mexico with his counterparts from Mexico City and Ottawa for the 'Three Amigos' summit.
During a press conference held by the three leaders, Biden finally broke his silence, telling reporters that he was taking the matter 'seriously.'
"We are cooperating fully with the review, which I hope will be finished soon," Biden said at the time.
The president also claimed, "I was briefed about this discovery and surprised to learn that there were any government records that were taken there to that office, but I don't know what's in the documents."
January 11: One more document was found in Wilmington.
According to NBC News, Biden's attorney discovered an additional document in his Wilmington, Delaware home on Wednesday, January 11.
The next day, the DOJ and Attorney General Merrick Garland were informed about it, and Garland, in his press conference, confirmed its existence.
January 12: DOJ appoints a special counsel.
After mounting pressure, on January 12, Garland held a press conference, announcing that he was appointing former US attorney Robert Hur as special counsel to oversee how Biden handled classified documents.
Almost two months earlier, Garland chose Jack Smith as Special Counsel to supervise Trump's own classified documents issue.
January 12: Biden says he takes classified materials ‘seriously’
That same day, Biden reiterated to journalists that he takes classified matters "seriously."
"As I said earlier this week, people know I take classified documents and classified materials seriously," he said.
The president added, "I also said we’re cooperating fully and completely with the Justice Department’s review."
He made the comments toward the end of an address on the economy.
But Republicans criticized his remarks as empty platitudes, citing the new finds that were being continuously revealed as proof that Biden was careless with classified records.
January 14: Five more pages found in Wilmington.
The same day that Garland appointed the special counsel, Justice Department investigators were notified of five more papers with classified markings at Biden's home. The investigators were on site to collect the earlier additional page.
Special counsel to the president, Richard Sauber said, "While I was transferring it to the DOJ officials who accompanied me, five additional pages with classification markings were discovered among the material with it, for a total of six pages. The DOJ officials with me immediately took possession of them."
January 15: Republicans seek more information on Wilmington home.
On Sunday, January 15, Chairman,
House Oversight Committee James Comer sent a letter to the Biden administration demanding a list of people who had access to the Wilmington address where the classified documents were discovered.
He also asked for "communications related to the search," and gave officials until the end of the month to respond.
But the White House has signified that it has no interest in probes by Republicans.
January 16: White House calls Republicans "hypocritical," and says there are no visitor logs.
The following day, White House spokesman Ian Sams went on the offensive, telling multiple news outlets that, "House Republicans are playing politics in a shamelessly hypocritical attempt to attack President Biden."
The same day, the White House cited the status of Biden's Wilmington home as a private residence, saying that there were no visitor logs available, despite the significant amount of time he spends there.
January 17: Biden ignores questions shouted by reporters.
Three days after the public was made aware of that discovery, Biden beamed with smiles as he ignored questions shouted by reporters about the documents just before a meeting with Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Mark Rutte.
According to Fox News, a member of the press was heard asking whether the president will speak with Special Counsel Hur.
Biden also left that question unanswered.
January 19: Biden says " I have no regrets" about classified documents.
Amid growing questions about his possession of classified documents and as the scandal continued to overshadow his daily presidential duties, Biden remained defiant.
During a visit to California to survey damage caused by the storm, Biden said to the press: "I think you’re going to find there’s nothing there. I have no regrets, I’m following what the lawyers have told me they want me to do."
"There's no there there," Biden added.
Ronna McDaniel, Republican National Committee Spokeswoman berated the president over the remark, telling the DailyMail that Biden was a "hypocrite who can't be trusted."
January 20: White House declines to comment as Biden heads to Rehoboth.
To end the contentious week, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre shut down reporters' questions on the classified documents, in the briefing room.
Asked about Biden's statement during his tour of storm damage earlier that week, Jean-Pierre said, " I'm not going to get into specifics, or I'm not going to go beyond what the president has said."
Before that, she refused to entertain any question on her announcement that Biden would be spending the weekend at his Rehoboth Beach, Delaware property, instead of his Wilmington home.
A reporter asked if that had any links with the classified documents found at the Wellington residence.
The press secretary responded:
" I'm not going to comment on that piece at all from here. I'm just going to continue to be prudent and consistent and respect the Department of Justice process."
January 21: DOJ finds additional documents ‘with classified markings.’
The day after the White House declined to elaborate on Biden's weekend movements, it was disclosed that Justice Department investigators recovered
six additional items during a search at the Wilmington home.
According to a statement by Biden's private lawyer, some of the documents recovered on Saturday had "classified markings," but it is not immediately clear how many of them were top secret in nature.
The lawyer said," DOJ requested that the search not be made public in advance, by its standard procedures, and we agreed to cooperate."
The search lasted over 12 hours.
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