FBI took personal notebooks that US President Joe Biden kept during his time as vice president from one of his Delaware homes during the last week’s search there as part of the probe into his mishandling of classified documents.
A person familiar with the investigation told NBC said that notebooks – a mix of records on personal and official topics – were among the items the FBI seized despite not being marked as classified since they contained information- including details of diplomatic contacts – related to Biden’s official business within the Obama administration.
Though no exact figure was provided, the person said that President Biden had a large number of these notebooks.
As the official pointed out, even pages that contain no sensitive data could be considered state property under the Presidential Records Act, as they relate to the activities of the US government.
As it was noted, the discovery of Biden’s possession of notebooks from his time as vice president raises questions about whether he appropriately followed procedures for preserving presidential records.
It can also throw light on how other VPs and presidents have handled their notebooks kept while in office.
A spokesperson for Biden’s personal lawyer, Bob Bauer, said that they will not comment on the accuracy of reports of this nature – when addressed about the notebooks- consistent with their view of the cooperation requirements with the Department of Justice in this matter.
Pushing aside the whole scandal created after it was revealed earlier this month that he kept several batches of top-secret government papers and other confidential documents from his two terms as vice president – including some dating back to his days as a senator- were found at his office in Washington DC and at his Delaware home, President Biden pointed out last week that he has no regrets about the situation.
The somewhat brazen remarks enticed backlash even from fellow Democrats, including Senator Joe Manchin, who stressed that he finds Biden’s exposure of state secrets to potential theft unbelievable and totally irresponsible.
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