- Federal probe into Biden’s handling began just a day after the 2022 midterms
- The president hasn’t even been interviewed yet for the probe
- The end of the investigation is not ‘imminent,’ according to sources
- READ MORE: Former President Donald Trump has been indicted for mishandling of classified documents and summoned to appear before a federal judge in Miami, he announced on Thursday
By STEPHEN M. LEPORE FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 00:03 EDT, 9 June 2023 | UPDATED: 02:42 EDT, 9 June 2023.
As formal President Trump is set for an indictment for his handling of classified documents, the federal investigation into President Joe Biden‘s own handling of classified materials is not close to being finished.
Just a day after the November 8 midterm elections, the Justice Department quietly opened an investigation ‘to understand whether classified information had been mishandled in violation of federal law’ over Biden’s alleged misdeeds.
This was after the president’s personal lawyers found a small number of classified documents, reportedly 10, at Penn Biden, a Washington DC think tank where Biden previously held a private office.
Biden and federal officials have located documents at Penn Biden and at his Wilmington home, and have searched his Delaware beach house after the initial discovery days before the November elections.
Citing three sources, NBC News reported Thursday that not only is the end of the investigation into Biden not ‘imminent,’ they have yet to even question the president.
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The president has insisted that he and his team are being transparent and cooperative with investigators. He’s also brushed off reporters’ questions on the matter and outright ignored them at times.
A source close to Biden’s team said that there was ‘no way around it’ when it comes the president having to be interviewed as part of the investigation. It will likely be one of the final interviews given.
The White House, Biden’s personal attorney and a spokesperson for special counsel Robert Hur have all declined comment.
Hur was appointed special counsel to investigate the documents found in Biden’s Wilmington home, which date back to his time as vice president.
On November 2, Biden’s personal attorney discovered approximately 10 documents with classified markings on Nov. 2 at the Penn Biden Center, his private think tank run by the University of Pennsylvania.
The material dated back to the Obama administration. The National Archives and Justice Department were informed of the discovery.
But the crisis did not come to public attention until January after CBS News reported their existence, earning criticism for the Biden administration, which has promised transparency.
Days later more classified documents were discovered at Biden’s Wilmington, Delaware, residence. Additional searches found more classified records – about two dozen total.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre took a public beating for saying on multiple occasions the search for documents was over only to have to reveal additional searches found additional documents.
The lack of disclosures, the misstatements, and Biden own testiness when asked about the issue contributed to the impression the White House had not been forthcoming on the matter.
Administration officials countered that the Archives and other federal agencies were notified immediately.
Trump has been indicted for mishandling of classified documents and summoned to appear before a federal judge in Miami, he announced on Thursday. He has been charged with seven counts.
Biden called Trump’s mishandling of files, hundreds of which were recovered from Mar-a-Lago in the raid, ‘irresponsible’ during a September interview with 60 Minutes.
Trump claims he’s an innocent man following his newest indictment
Trump told Fox News Thursday evening that the indictment was ‘election interference’ and ‘the greatest which hunt of all time.’
He plans to plead not guilty, saying he is ‘totally innocent.
It is the second set of charges leveled at Trump this year, plunging the country into fresh legal and political uncertainty as he campaigns to return to office.
Prosecutors have investigating the transfer of presidential files to his Mar-a-Lago Florida estate since last year.
The probe exploded into the headlines in August when the FBI searched Trump’s beachside home, recovering 11,000 documents, including about 100 that were marked as classified.
For his part, Trump has repeatedly insisted he did nothing wrong and that he is the victim of a federal witch hunt.
At times the controversy has even boosted his standing in the polls and allowed him to raise money from supporters who see a ‘deep state’ plot to take him out of the 2024 race.
‘The corrupt Biden Administration has informed my attorneys that I have been Indicted, seemingly over the Boxes Hoax, even though Joe Biden has 1850 Boxes at the University of Delaware, additional Boxes in Chinatown, D.C., with even more Boxes at the University of Pennsylvania, and documents strewn all over his garage floor where he parks his Corvette, and which is ‘secured’ by only a garage door that is paper thin, and open much of the time,’ Trump wrote on Truth Social Thursday night.
‘I have been summoned to appear at the Federal Courthouse in Miami on Tuesday, at 3 PM. I never thought it possible that such a thing could happen to a former President of the United States, who received far more votes than any sitting President in the History of our Country, and is currently leading, by far, all Candidates, both Democrat and Republican, in Polls of the 2024 Presidential Election. I AM AN INNOCENT MAN!’
Security is already being increased around the courthouse in Miami ahead of his appearance before a judge, scheduled for 3pm on Tuesday.
Earlier this week, Trump took to his social media platform to condemn reports of looming charges.
‘Wow, this is turning out to be the greatest and most vicious instance of election interference in the history of our country,’ he wrote on Truth Social.
He had already earned the status of being the first former president to face criminal charges. Those relate to a $130,000 hush-money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels.
In April, he appeared in Manhattan court where he was charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records as part of an alleged plot to hide damaging information from voters before the 2016 election.
Trump pleaded not guilty.
Legal analysts believe the documents case could be more legally difficult for the former president.
During the past year, a grand jury has heard testimony from Mar-a-Lago employees and former administration officials who worked in Trump’s post-presidential office.
One of the final witnesses was Mark Meadows, Trump’s last White House chief of staff.
And Taylor Budowich, who served as a spokesman for Trump after his presidency and runs a pro-Trump political action committee, confirmed that he had given evidence too.
‘Today, in what can only be described as a bogus and deeply troubling effort to use the power of government to “get” Trump, I fulfilled a legal obligation to testify in front a federal grand jury and I answered every question honestly,’ he wrote on Twitter.
The investigation into Trump’s handling of classified documents is being overseen by a special counsel, Jack Smith, who was appointed by the Attorney General Merrick Garland in November.
On Monday, Trump’s attorneys met with Smith and his team in Washington, D.C.
On Wednesday, it was confirmed that Trump was an official target of the investigation.
Trump himself is currently in Bedminster, New Jersey, huddled with his advisors.