President Biden speaks at the Baltimore and Potomac Tunnel North Portal on Jan. 30. Photo: Drew Angerer/Getty Images
The FBI searched the Penn Biden Center in mid-November after the White House discovered classified documents there from President Biden's time as vice president, multiple outlets reported Tuesday — a detail that was not previously disclosed publicly by the White House.
The big picture: It remains unclear what, if anything, the FBI found during the mid-November search and why the White House, Department of Justice or Biden's personal counsel did not include it during previously provided timelines related to the case.
- CBS News first reported on the November search.
- The White House declined to comment and referred Axios to the Department of Justice. Axios has reached out to the DOJ.
Catch up quick: The White House previously shared details of an FBI search at Biden's Wilmington, Del. home, in January one day after the search occurred.
Zoom out: Attorney General Merrick Garland announced on Jan. 12 that he was appointing Robert Hur as special counsel to lead the investigation into Biden's classified documents.
- The FBI launched an assessment on Nov. 9 to determine whether classified information had been "mishandled in violation of federal law," Garland said earlier this month.
- After the initial discovery of classified documents at the Penn Biden Center, documents were also identified at two locations, including Biden's garage, inside the president's personal residence in Wilmington.
- Republican strategists have said that the classified document discoveries for both Biden and former Vice President Mike Pence, who per his attorney had a "small number of [classified] documents" at his home in Indiana, are a political gift for Trump.
Go deeper... Calls for classified document reform mount after repeated discoveries