Notebooks that President Joe Biden wrote during his time as vice president. Are among the items the FBI seized from a Delaware. Home during a search there last week. According to a person familiar with the investigation.
The notebooks were seized because some of the pages contain. Biden’s notes related to his official business as vice president. Including details of his diplomatic engagements during the Obama administration. And may refer to classified information, this same person said, adding. That the notebooks were not marked classified. , but some of the handwritten notes inside. Them can be considered for their sensitive content.
Other pages in the notebook, although they may not contain classified information. Could still be considered government property under the Presidential Records Act because. They relate to Biden’s official business conducted as vice president. According to a person familiar with the investigation.
According to a person familiar with the seizure.
The notebooks contain a mix of Biden’s handwritten notes on both personal. And official matters. On some pages, Biden wrote about his family or his life unrelated to public office, this same person said. On other pages, according to this same source. He reminisced by writing down some of his experiences or thoughts. As vice-president during that time.
The number of notebooks Biden keeps is large, according to people. Familiar with the details, but they do not know the exact number.
Asked about the notebooks, a spokesman for Biden’s personal lawyer. Bob Bauer, reiterated the position. The president’s legal team has taken in previous statements. About Biden’s Justice Department investigation into classified. Obama administration material found at his Wilmington. Delaware, house and Washington, D.C. house. An office in C., which he used after leaving the vice presidency.
“As noted in the statement released on January 14, consistent with our view of the need to cooperate with. The DOJ on this matter, we will not comment on the accuracy of reports of this nature,” the spokesperson said.
The Justice Department declined to comment.
The FBI declined to comment.
Bowe’s spokeswoman declined to comment Friday on whether Biden. Knew the notebooks were packed in boxes left with him at the end of the Obama administration. Whether he had accessed them since leaving the vice presidency. And whether he considered the notebooks his personal property.
In a letter to former presidents and vice presidents this week. The National Archives urged their offices to search their offices for any material. That may be related to their tenure in office. Including “to determine whether material. Before assumed to be personal in nature.” . . . contains presidential or vice-presidential records subject to the [Presidential Records Act]. Whether classified or unclassified.”
The request follows a battle between former President Donald Trump. And the archives over possession of classified documents after he left office. Which led to the FBI obtaining a search warrant to retrieve them from his Mar-a-Lago estate in August. Biden aides‘ discovery of classified documents in his private. Office in November while vice president. As well as next discoveries; and former Vice President Mike Pence’s revelation.
That his aides found classified documents in his Indiana home this month.
Trump and Biden’s possession of classified documents are the subject of separate. Special counsel investigations. Attorney General Merrick Garland has not yet named a special. Counsel to investigate Pence’s handling of classified documents.
Biden’s notebooks in his possession as vice president include notes. About official business he conducted in that role, raising questions. About whether he followed presidential record-keeping procedures. It also raises questions about whether the notebooks are considered personal or official. And how other vice presidents and presidents. Who kept the same notebooks while in office handled them.
Federal law allows presidents and vice presidents to write. And, after leaving office, keep diaries and notes of a “personal.” Nature, as long as they did not share the material with anyone while in office. (Former President Ronald Reagan kept a handwritten diary during. His eight years in the White House, storing them in a dresser drawer and only his wife. Nancy, knowing they were there, according to Douglas Brinkley. A presidential historian who later edited and published the diaries.)
Jason R. Barron, former director of litigation at the National Archives. Said the notebooks, which contain handwritten notes about personal matters mixed. With notes on government business, would likely be considered.
Personal property if not for Biden.
Barron said that’s true whether Biden wrote a note to himself. About buying the birthday president for his wife or a meeting with a foreign leader.
But if Biden shared the contents of the notebook with staff while serving as vice president. The material would be considered an official government record, Barron said.
. Personnel for use in the transaction of government business,” Barron said. “A former president or vice president has the right to remove from the White House personal notes. – They are not official records that come into the legal. Custody of the National Archives at the end of an administration.”
On January 20, the FBI spent more than 12 hours. searching Biden’s Wilmington home for possible records. Including classified materials, from his eight years as vice president.
The next day, Bauer, the president’s personal lawyer. Said in a statement that federal investigators had. Taken away more than classified documents. After accessing Biden’s “handwritten notes, files, papers, binders, memos, to-do lists.” Schedules, and reminders going back decades.”
In the statement, Bauer said the Justice Department.
“Has taken possession of materials considered. Within the scope of their investigation, including six items. Containing documents with classification markings and surrounding materials.” “The DOJ took handwritten notes from the vice-presidential years for further review.”
Trump, Biden and Pence all have classified. Materials calling for changes to the process by which presidents. And vice presidents leave office after they leave office.
Norman Eisen, who served as special. Counsel for ethics in former President Barack Obama’s White House. Said he advocates reviewing the president’s. And vice president’s papers before they leave office so that official. Documents aren’t bundled in with others. stuff
Eisen outlined a hypothetical scenario in which an outgoing. president or an aide wanted to pack up a medical bill that needed payment. And an employee would call the National. Archives to determine whether it was a private or public record.
On Friday, Pence apologized for having classified.
Documents in his possession and said he took full responsibility for them.
And said the federal investigation is “not there.” . And taken after Biden resigned as vice president.
A person close to Biden said it was impossible to imagine him packing up. The box himself after leaving the vice-presidency. That would have been the job of his staff, the person said, speaking on condition of anonymity to speak more .
“He’s not putting anything in the box,” this person said.
