FBI Under Pressure to Raid Biden’s Home After Second Set of Documents Found

Some Republicans are demanding that the FBI raid the homes of President Joe Biden following reports that a second batch of classified documents tied to the president has been discovered in a private location.

Earlier this week, a lawyer for Biden revealed that “a small number of classified documents” dating to his time as vice president had been discovered at Penn Biden Center in Washington, D.C., on November 2, 2022.

NBC News reported on Wednesday that Biden aides found at least one new batch of documents at a different location, citing an unnamed person familiar with the situation. It was unclear whether a search for any additional documents by Biden’s staff had been completed.

While the location of the new batch, the number of documents and the exact nature of the documents were also unknown, Republicans aligned with former President Donald Trump almost immediately renewed calls for the FBI to raid the current president’s residences—suggesting that Biden’s situation was no different than Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate being raided after the former president failed to return over 100 classified documents that he had kept there.

“When’s the raid??” tweeted Donald Trump Jr., the ex-president’s son. “They’ve had months to track this stuff down. Where is the special counsel? Where’s the wall to wall media coverage asking why Biden and Garland have not already been forced to recuse themselves???”

“Joe Biden’s mansion in Wilmington, Delaware. Joe Biden’s beach house in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware,” tweeted Kimberly Guilfoyle, Trump Jr.’s wife. “Two locations worthy of a surprise FBI raid.”

“Biden aides have now ‘found’ a second trove of classified documents in another location,” conservative political commentator and former Trump administration official Monica Crowley tweeted. “How many classified documents are floating around at how many locations?? Still waiting on the FBI raid of Dr. Jill’s closet.”

“They’ve found MORE classified documents that Joe Biden had in his possession,” right-wing radio host Clay Travis tweeted. “The FBI must now raid all of Joe Biden’s properties & he must be impeached and resign from office in disgrace. Those are the rules Democrats made. Time to live by them.”

“The FBI knows that Biden associates made multi-million dollar deals with China, Ukraine and Russia,” tweeted GOP Representative Mary Miller of Illinois. “And the FBI knows that Biden illegally took classified documents as Vice President. The only reason the FBI would not raid the ‘Biden Center’ & Biden’s Delaware homes is POLITICS!”

“So the FBI raided Mar-a-Lago, but President Biden’s aides are going through the classified documents found,” Republican Representative Randy Weber of Texas tweeted. “Can you say DOUBLE STANDARD?? When is the FBI going to raid President Biden’s house? Make it make sense.”

The calls for a raid echoed similar demands from the former president himself, who suggested that the FBI should raid properties including the White House after the discovery of the first batch was reported on Monday.

While the circumstances surrounding the second batch are unclear, legal experts have pointed out that there are significant differences between the documents found at the current president’s former office at Penn Biden Center and those taken from the ex-president’s home.

Officials were aware of the classified documents being kept by Trump and raided his property after months of requests that he return the items to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA).

Meanwhile, NARA was apparently unaware of the classified materials at Biden’s former office and was immediately informed of the discovery by the president’s lawyers, who found the documents.

“If you can’t grasp the difference between finding improperly stored classified docs that you immediately turn over to NARA vs. obstructing and lying in a federal investigation regarding improperly stored classified docs, I cannot help you,” national security lawyer Bradley Moss tweeted on Monday amid comparisons of the two discoveries.

Moss described the discovery of the second batch as “sloppiness by Biden’s staff” on Wednesday, while maintaining that the president is likely “not at risk of criminal exposure.”

He also argued that the discovery had not changed “the calculus” concerning potential criminal charges over Trump’s handling of classified documents, which are currently being weighed by special counsel Jack Smith.