\n\n“White House lawyers initially found sensitive documents at the Penn Biden Center in Washington \u2014 where Biden kept a personal office \u2014 on Nov. 2, a day before the midterm elections, and notified the Justice Department. On Dec. 20, Biden\u2019s team notified the department of a second batch of documents in Biden\u2019s Wilmington garage. On Thursday, they informed the department of another document found in Biden\u2019s house. Garland was briefed on the investigation on Jan. 5.”
…
“there are significant differences in the timeline of the Trump-related documents and those found at Biden\u2019s office and home. The National Archives discovered the presence of records with classified markings at Mar-a-Lago in January 2022, after a protracted effort to reclaim presidential records that Trump had warehoused at his estate since leaving office. Trump sent an initial batch of 15 boxes back to the archive that month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After discovering the material marked classified, the Archives forwarded the matter to the Justice Department, which soon subpoenaed Trump\u2019s presidential office for all other documents with classified markings. The department also subpoenaed security footage to review the handling of the documents, which were kept in a storage room and Trump\u2019s personal office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But Justice Department investigators said evidence they collected showed that even after the subpoena, Trump\u2019s team had not turned over everything in their possession \u2014 even as the ex-president\u2019s aides presented the department with a signed attestation that all subpoenaed documents had been turned over. The FBI discovered another trove of sensitive records after executing a search at Trump\u2019s estate in August, including some that he kept in his personal office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Biden\u2019s team, by contrast, has repeatedly emphasized its proactive approach to the discovery of the records. In two statements, White House lawyer Richard Sauber said Biden\u2019s own team discovered the documents, immediately alerted the Archives and the Justice Department and returned the records. Similarly, they conducted additional searches and have pledged to cooperate with department investigators.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trump sued last year to demand the return of documents seized by the FBI, a battle that reached the Supreme Court, only to result in a sharp rejection of his effort to sideline the Justice Department investigation. Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill have demanded assessments of the potential damage to national security caused by the handling of the documents.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n