Washington: As part of its inquiry into President Joe Biden's handling of classified documents, the FBI conducted two searches at the University of Delaware, according to numerous news sources.
Since classified material was discovered in a president's former office last November, federal agents have searched a total of four locations, including the school.
The searches were carried out "with the consent and cooperation of the president's legal team" on two separate days in recent weeks, according to a source familiar with the investigation cited by CNN on Wednesday. Later, citing unnamed sources as well, Fox News and the Associated Press confirmed the report.
Federal agents are still looking over the documents, the sources said, despite the fact that the material taken from the two locations did not appear to have any classified markings.
Prior to earning a law degree from Syracuse University, Biden attended the University of Delaware. In 2011, he donated a sizable collection of records from his 36 years in the US Senate to the university. The following year, the documents were delivered to the university library, where they are expected to stay sealed for the next two years after Biden leaves office.
The usual guidelines for classified material would still be applicable even though Biden's Senate records would not be constrained by the Presidential Records Act, which governs how such files must be managed after presidents leave office.
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At a private office the president previously maintained in Washington, DC, the president's legal team first discovered classified documents in November of last year, but they didn't make the discovery public until January 9 - well after the midterm elections.
But soon after the documents were discovered, the FBI was notified and went on to search numerous places connected to the president, including Biden's homes in Wilmington and Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, where more classified material would turn up in December and again in January.
The revelations prompted Attorney General Merrick Garland to name Robert Hur as a special counsel to investigate how Biden handled sensitive documents last month. Hur was chosen to learn how the records came into Biden's possession.
Hur is also in charge of an investigation into former President Donald Trump, who was also discovered to have secret documents at his Florida resort Mar-a-Lago last year.
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After ex-Vice President Mike Pence's legal team disclosed that they had discovered a small cache of documents with classified markings, the FBI also conducted a search of his residence last week. One more classified document was discovered during the search, claims a Pence adviser.
