The FBI has carried out two searches at the University of Delaware as part of the investigation into whether President Biden mishandled classified documents, according to a report Wednesday.
The searches had not been publicly disclosed and were conducted in recent weeks with the consent of Mr. Biden’s legal team, CNN reported, citing a source familiar with the investigation.
Investigators had retrieved materials from two different university locations on two different days, but it is unclear if anything recovered had classified markings, the report said.
A Justice Department spokesman declined to comment.
A spokeswoman for Bob Bauer, the president’s personal attorney, did not immediately return a request for comment. Neither did the FBI, White House, or the University of Delaware.
The University of Delaware’s trove of documents from Mr. Biden’s time as a senator was widely viewed as investigators’ next search after agents looked for classified documents at the president’s Wilmington, Delaware residence and Rehoboth Beach, Delaware home.
It is the only other known location where Mr. Biden’s papers are stored. In 2012, Mr. Biden donated papers from his 36-year Senate career, totaling 1,875 boxes and 415 gigabytes of electronic records, including committee reports, drafts of legislation and correspondence.
University officials have pledged not to make the documents public until two years after Mr. Biden retires from public life.
White House spokesperson Ian Sams said earlier this month that the president’s personal attorneys were working with the Justice Department to identify places where classified materials could have been stored, but he declined to name specific locations.
Republicans called for the FBI to comb through the University of Delaware documents after investigators searched Mr. Biden’s Rehoboth Beach house.
“The FBI needs to search Joe Biden’s Senate records at the University of Delaware next,” tweeted Sen. Ted Cruz, Texas Republican.
The university has long resisted calls to make the documents public.
The documents stored at the school came under scrutiny during the 2020 presidential election after former Senate staffer Tara Reade accused Mr. Biden of a 1993 sexual assault. Ms. Reade said documents containing evidence to support her claim might be stored at the university.
Mr. Biden has repeatedly denied Ms. Reade’s accusations, and she has relentlessly advocated for making the documents public.
Judicial Watch, a conservative government transparency group, filed a Freedom of Information Act request to obtain the documents after the university refused to release the materials.
The Delaware Superior Court sided with the university, saying the documents could not be released. The plaintiffs appealed the decision to the Delaware Supreme Court; that appeal is pending.
Classified documents have been found at Mr. Biden’s home in Wilmington and at the former think tank office he used in Washington after the end of his tenure as vice president in the Obama administration.
Federal law strictly forbids the removal or retention of classified documents or materials outside secured locations without authorization. Mr. Biden did not have that authorization during his tenure as vice president in the Obama White House.
Attorney General Merrick Garland earlier this year appointed Robert Hur as special counsel to investigate Mr. Biden’s handling of classified materials. His work began this month.
The searches of the University of Delaware materials mark the fourth known FBI search for classified materials at a property associated with Mr. Biden.
FBI agents searched Mr. Biden’s home in Wilmington in November and in January, and his Rehoboth Beach residence earlier this month. The FBI also searched the offices of the Penn Biden Center in Washington after the president’s attorneys on Nov. 2 found classified materials locked in a closet. The White House did not disclose the FBI’s search of the Penn Biden Center at the time.
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.
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