U.S. Justice Department conducts "planned search" of Biden's home

U.S. President Joe Biden walks on the South Lawn to board Marine One at the White House in Washington, D.C., July 8, 2022. (Photo by Ting Shen/Xinhua)

"The search today is a further step in a thorough and timely DOJ process we will continue to fully support and facilitate," Biden's attorney said.

WASHINGTON, Feb. 1 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) conducted a "planned search" of President Joe Biden's home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, on Wednesday.

"Today, with the President's full support and cooperation, the DOJ is conducting a planned search of his home in Rehoboth, Delaware," Biden's personal lawyer, Bob Bauer, said in a statement obtained by U.S. media outlets.

"Under DOJ's standard procedures, in the interests of operational security and integrity, it sought to do this work without advance public notice, and we agreed to cooperate," Bauer wrote.

"The search today is a further step in a thorough and timely DOJ process we will continue to fully support and facilitate," the attorney continued. "We will have further information at the conclusion of today's search."

The DOJ conducted a search of Biden's home in Wilmington, Delaware, on Jan. 20 after documents with classified markings were also found at the Biden Penn Center in Washington, D.C., in November 2022.

DOJ special counsels are separately investigating the handling of classified documents by Biden and former U.S. President Donald Trump.

Former U.S. Vice President Mike Pence told Congress last week that classified documents had been found at his home in Indiana.

The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration has recently requested that former presidents and vice presidents "conduct an assessment" to determine whether they have any classified materials in their possession.

Under the Presidential Records Act, all U.S. presidents' and vice presidents' records, including any classified documents, must be turned over to archives by the ends of their terms.