The Biden classified document situation, explained

The FBI discovered more classified documents at President Biden’s Delaware home over the course of a nearly 13-hour search that took place on Friday, according to the president’s personal lawyer.

The DOJ’s search, which took place at the invitation of the president's attorneys (i.e., without a warrant), uncovered six new items from Biden's time as vice president and as senator that contained documents with classified markings. FBI agents also confiscated some of Biden’s handwritten notes that were jotted down during his vice presidency.

📅 Background: Friday’s search was at least the fourth in recent months to turn up classified documents in locations that Biden used before he became president. Here’s a brief timeline:

• November 2: The initial batch of docs was found by Biden’s personal attorneys at the Penn Biden Center, a D.C. think tank that employed Biden for two years after his vice presidency, but before his presidential campaign. The National Archives took possession of the classified materials within days, but their discovery wasn’t reported to the public until January 9.
• December 20: Additional classified docs were found by Biden’s aides at his Delaware home, a discovery that was first publicly reported on January 12.
• January 12: Hours after the second batch of docs was publicized, AG Merrick Garland named former US attorney Robert Hur – a Trump appointee – to serve as an independent special counsel overseeing the ongoing DOJ investigation into Biden’s handling of classified material.
• January 14: Biden’s lawyers revealed they had found more classified docs at his Delaware home, after which the FBI conducted its own search of the property (on Friday, January 20).

📸 Big picture: Biden hasn’t been accused of breaking any laws thus far, and any such claim would have to prove he intentionally stored the classified material in unauthorized locations (which would be difficult, per legal experts). But the discoveries have raised concerns about the possibility that foreign spies could have had access to top-secret information.

The situation has also drawn parallels with an ongoing DOJ investigation into the mishandling of classified documents by former President Donald Trump, which began after the FBI retrieved about 100 classified docs while executing a search warrant on the former president's Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida (quick timeline note: the search warrant was obtained after more than a year of negotiations between Trump’s lawyers, the National Archives, and the DOJ).

📊 Flash poll: Which statement most accurately describes how you feel about Joe Biden’s and Donald Trump’s handling of classified documents after they left office?

What Trump did was a more serious concern

What Biden did was a more serious concern

Both were about the same

Neither was a serious concern

Unsure/other